


Act V Act I: Shade

by Lopadopalis



Series: Yggdrasil [9]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Agony, Alternate Selves, Bars and Pubs, Beer, Bittersweet Ending, Blood, Bullying, Canada, Cliffhanger, Confusing Explanations, Conversations, Dimension Travel, Flashbacks, Foreshadowing, Lies, Men in Black - Freeform, Mental Tug of War, Multi, Music, Over the Top, Permanent Sobriety, Plotline Duplication, Pretend the Universe is a Program, Pub Crawl, Quarry, Reality Affecting Program, Redacted Files, Sorrow, Speaking in the Chapter Notes, Sunrises, Time Jump, shots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:41:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 21,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27821677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lopadopalis/pseuds/Lopadopalis
Summary: The follow-up to all the previous stories in Yggdrasil.Shade and Forrester chase after Shatter, his plan for the many timelines of Homestuck still unknown.
Relationships: Original Character(s) & Original Character(s)
Series: Yggdrasil [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1805818





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So it begins. Again.

I am Shade.

I am a universal program given form. I have the power to change any stories plotline irreparably by adding on a plotline that already exists elsewhere. My very presence in any one of these locations leads to a propagation of these copied moments, spreading throughout the narrative until the whole story seems to be composed of stolen stories. And it hurts. It  _ burns _ .

I am Shade, and I am damaged.

My coding has been rewritten, and I have been used as an unwilling weapon. My subconscious self gained an equal amount of sentience and suppressed me while he slaughtered oh so many relevant characters over and over. I think I’ve shattered my subconscious, but now I’ve noticed a problem with my coding; somebody copied it.

I am Shade.

It’s time to wake up.

* * *

I’m on a plane, judging by the sound of the roaring engines. I’m in a cramped steel cube only about 1.3 times my height. The door a meter or so from me is smaller than me, about 70% of my height. I know for certain that this metal cube is in the cargo hold, along with a whole bunch of dynamite, which I’m guessing is these peoples’ insurance policy for killing me. There are also four highly trained government guards surrounding the cube, plus two more in the control room, plus the two pilots. Judging by the energy currents in the air, we’re somewhere over western France, heading for Germany I’d guess. Well, all that information I just processed does absolutely fuck all to determine a way out of this mess. I suppose I could use my coding to get out of this mess, but every single scenario in my databanks involving escaping a plane and multiple armed guards results in at least three casualties and sometimes the plane gets destroyed. Actually, usually the plane gets destroyed or damaged in some way. I don’t want to cause any more death and destruction, so fuck that. I guess I’m stuck. I’m alone. And my brother Shatter is out there, probably about to shred this entire universe, and I can barely muster the energy to go after him.

Shit, am I crying?

I’m crying.

I can’t-

I can’t…

I’m sobbing before I know it. I rub my eyes as tears stream out of them and stain my shirt. Fuck.  _ Fuck. _ I can’t do this. I can’t take on Shatter. I have to do something, but I’m not feeling ready. I’m not ready to do anything in life. I just want to go home.

**Don’t you worry, you’ll get to.**

What-?

I…

I know that voice.

Forrester?

The first person perspective breaks as a man with that signature orange clothing and messy brown hair of his appears opposite Shade, squatting down in the cube.

“Hey man.” Forrester says. “Sorry I took so long.”

Shade sobs and hugs his friend. “You made it.” Shade says.

“You betcha.” Forrester says. “Had to help clean up my own mess, but I made it.”

“Did our plan work?” Shade asks. “I know that that’s not the most important thing at the moment, but I still want to know.”

“Let’s just say…” Forrester says. “I got him.”

“I… don’t know how to feel about that.” Shade says. “I’ve just been thinking…”

“Well, I should probably apologize for getting you into this in the first place.” Forrester says.

“No, this was always gonna happen.” Shade says. “Shatter started this, not you.”

“We’ve got to stop him.” Forrester says, and then pauses. “Sorry, should we wait and give you time to-”

“No.” Shade says. “I can do this. Also, you don’t have to apologize for everything.”

“Well I’m sorry, but that’s what I always do.” Forrester says. “Case in point, I just accidentally apologized for apologizing. Goodness.”

“I thought you said that you would bring Galekh.” Shade says.

“Couldn’t.” Forrester. “Had to lose my trail. I had to leave him.”

“Oh.” Shade says. “How long has it been for you?” he finally asks after a pause. “Because it’s only been a little over two years for me. It was a terrible two years.”

“I can imagine.” Forrester says. “How old am I now? Well, I was 28 when we started this thing, and now I’m…” he pauses. “36.”

“Get out.” Shade says.

“I can’t, the door’s locked.” Forrester says, and Shade snickers.

“36?” Shade asks. “Eight years?”

“Yeah, I was all over the place.” Forrester says. “Here, let me lay out my timeline.” he pauses. “I was in November-55, got in a war with Mike,” he puts emphasis on the M, “And then I got recruited, got some power, hung out with your dad before he split, worked as a right hand, not on the council. Then I met you, thought I’d set your dad straight after he went off on it, I changed it up to killing him for the greater good, and then I ran off into Universe “Five” again, and then I chased after you and ended up here.” Forrester finishes.

“Let’s get out of here.” Shade says after he absorbs the information.

“Right. Hold still man.” Forrester says, and puts his hands on Shade’s shoulders.

Shade sheds John’s body in favour of his real one, and they vanish in a blink of light, leaving a hollow shell behind.

* * *

ENTITY FILE, CODENAME “PROTECTOR”

**Item #:** Ω-3

**Object Class:** ████████

**Special Containment Procedures:** █████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

**Description:** █████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

* * *

In the place where Crockercorp Site-413 once stood in Timeline [REDACTED], there is nothing but empty taiga. However, 12 miles northwest of its previous location and nine miles underground, there is a cave. However, this cave is not just a cave. It is a prison. It is also freezing cold. It should be burning hot at such a depth, but it is instead cold like Antarctica. The man who enters the large cavern is wearing a mortal body, the body of a german man named Cristoph Kossmann. He’s wearing a parka and carrying a blue flare that casts an indigo light across the stone walls. There are many old runes and magical defenses here, but the thing wearing Cristoph’s body banishes them with a wave of his hand. He goes deeper into the cave and sees his target. A woman is floating in the air, encased in a ring of silver energy. She is wearing a grey sweater and black jeans. Her eyes are closed and her dark hair fans out as if she is underwater. Sigils dance through the air around her, their colours shifting every second. Blue light emanates from her. The man takes a deep breath, and begins to speak.

“Hope. Decayed. Four. Dawn. Burner. Thirteen. Care. Arrival. Nine. Scarred.”

His words shatter the enchantments surrounding her. She falls to the ground, and the cavern goes dark once more, save for the flare’s light. The woman opens her eyes, which are pure black for a moment before they fade into normal eyes. Her pupils are red and reflect the flare’s light. The woman sits up and rubs her head.

“Wow, it’s cold here.” Shard says.

“Come on. Let’s get out of here.” Shatter says.

“Have you gotten any of the others yet?” Shard asks.

“No.” Shatter says. “How about we go get ‘em?” he offers his free hand.

Shard smiles, and takes her brother’s hand. “Sounds like a plan.”

A circular orange ring emitting a red light appears in thin air and expands outwards until it’s nearly double the height of both of them. Its edges spark like a fire. The two of them step through it, and the portal closes behind them. Silence settles once again.

Two minutes later, the cavern collapses.

Forrester and Shade reappear in a mansion of sorts. It’s in a state of disarray, and looks like it’s still being cleaned up from some disaster.

“This is…” Shade says. “This is…”

“Your home.” Forrester says. “Only been a couple of hours since… that.”

“I…” Shade whispers, his words dying on his lips. “Is he here?” he asks.

“Of course he is.” Forrester says. “He hasn’t died yet, by the way.”

On cue, a version of John Egbert rounds the corner and spots them. He’s wearing that blue god tier garb of his, but there’s a green streak in his hair.

“Sigma. It’s you.” Shade says.

“You know that you don’t have to call me that.” ‘Sigma’ says.

“I prefer it.” Shade says. There’s a long pause. “I’m sorry.” he says.

“Well, you thought that your father was evil.” Sigma says. “Can’t blame you for being a rebellious teen with your new pal and trying to end his existence.”

“You mean your existence.” Shade corrects. Sigma shrugs.

“Technically different. Regardless, we don’t blame you and understand exactly what your thought process was, having experienced it a few times.” he says.

“You… are you really forgiving me?” Shade asks. Sigma nods.

“Come on. We’ve got a problem.” Sigma says. “It concerns your siblings.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A flashback.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We interrupt your regularly scheduled program to bring you a pub crawl. No, I am not kidding.

**Universe “Four”, 2101**

**25 Hours Before the Incident**

**11:12 AM**

“So, why are we doing this?” Shard asks.

The six of them, plus Forrester, are standing at the edge of the town Aspenhome, staring down at the town which, in question, has 20 pubs in it.

“Because we can’t get drunk?” Shatter says. “And because it’ll be fun.”

“Why can’t we get drunk?” Shadow asks.

“Because we weren’t programmed with the capacity to get drunk.” Shatter says with a sigh. “It just goes right through us. God, Shadow, keep up.”

“Sorry.” Shadow mutters.

“Which implies that we even have any waste functions, or that we even need to eat or drink beyond simple self satisfaction.” Shard says.

“Yeah, we don’t, you do know that right?” Sharpen says.

“Yes, I’m aware.” Shard says.

“We’re all quite aware.” Shade says.

“We’re digressed.” Shatter says. “We’re doing this because we just turned 18, and we’re proper shipping out tomorrow. This could be our last day together.”

“So we’re all going to pub-crawl then?” Shade asks.

“Even if we’re teetotal all the way through, it’s still irresponsible.” Shard says.

“Oh, off with it.” Sharpen says. Shard glares at him.

“It’s a classic.” Shatter says. “Besides, we’ve been such shut-ins. This could be our last chance to really see this town, see what it has to offer! We’re in Britain, they love their pubs.”

“As long as there are no robots.” Shadow says.

“Ha ha.” Shatter says dryly.

“I could make there be robots if you like.” Shade says.

“No thanks, we’re fine without.” Shatter says.

“Technically, we’re not 18, we’re six.” Sharpen points out.

“Five.” Shatter responds.

“Six.” Sharpen challenges.

“Five and a half?” Shackle suggests.

“It’s more like five and a couple days.” Forrester says, finally speaking. “You aged to 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18, but you never aged to 13 because you started that way. Therefore, it’s five.”

“Thank you, Forrester.” Shatter says. “Now, shall we?”

“Uh, question?” Shade asks as they walk down the hill towards the edge of Aspenhome, “How is Forrester going to stay sober?”

“Magic powers.” Forrester says. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”

“Wait, what?” Shade asks.

“Ignore that.” Forrester says. “Say, Shatter, I’m surprised this was your idea.” he says as the seven of them begin to walk down the street. “Usually I’m the one who suggests crazy ideas.”

“Well, congratulations.” Shatter says. “You have just been… upstaged.”

“Upstaged, huh?” Forrester says, shaking his head. “Great.”

The group soon arrives at the first bar, which is named  _ The Seer _ , with the sign showing an image of an eye with a sun for a pupil and two black wands crossed over it.

“Shade, what’s this one like?” Sharpen asks.

“What?” Shade wonders aloud. “What do you mean by that?”

“Can’t you do that thing where you touch a building or an object and you just know its story?” Sharpen reiterates. “This place got a story?”

Shade shrugs and places his hand against the door of the establishment, closing his eyes. Everyone goes silent and waits for Shade to speak. He eventually turns to the others. “Not really much of one, frankly. They called it the Seer because it was near an old observatory, and I guess astronomy counted as seer-ing.” he shrugs.

“You’re getting very good at that.” Forrester says.

“Oh, thanks man.” Shade says.

“Where’s the observatory then?” Shadow wonders aloud.

“Where do you think?” Shatter says. “It’s gone, y’idiot.”

“Right.” Shadow says. “Of course.”

“Shall we?” Shard asks, and the seven of them file inside.

The interior is bland, to put it lightly. It’s got an extremely boring interior with no particular feature that makes it interesting. “This place is ugly.” Sharpen says.

“Come on now, have a little respect.” Shackle says. “It’s nice, I like it.”

“No, it’s been bought by a chain.” Shade says. “I can feel it.”

“Oh, well that just sucks the joy out of it, doesn’t it?” Shatter says.

“Actually, now I’m wondering if all of them have been bought out.” Forrester says.

“Why would you think that?” Shatter asks.

“Well, I dunno, because it’s  _ 2100 _ . I’d be surprised if there were pubs that  _ weren’t _ bought out.” Forrester says, shrugging. “Makes sense, doesn’t it?”

“He’s got a point.” Sharpen says.

“Could we get a move on?” Shard asks. “I’d like to get this mess over with quickly.”

“Shard, you can’t rush a pub crawl.” Shatter says.

“Actually, I think you should.” Shard says. “It’s quicker, and therefore you don’t get progressively more drunk as the hours slog on, it just sort of hits you all at once.”

“Yeah, but we can’t get drunk, remember?” Sharpen says.

“That’s not the point.” Shard says.

“Come on lads.” Shatter says, and sidles up to the bar, the others following. Shard looks resigned about it, and Shackle already looks like he’s on cloud nine. Then again, he is an overly positive person which may explain it.

“Ah, welcome lads!” the troll publican says. “What can I do for you?”

“Seven pints of whatever, please.” Shatter says.

“Beer.” Shade helpfully fills in for him.

“What he said.” Shatter says.

“You all look like you’re going somewhere.” the troll says. “Anything in mind for today?”

“Ah.” Shatter says. “Today, we will be crawling every pub in this town. Commencing with an inaugural tankard at the Seer, then onto the Golgotha Terror, the Portal, the Twin Psychics, the Snake, the Blue Wind, the Darkest Pit, the Chained Sun, the Wolf, the Scarlet Lovers, the Rogue, the Widow, the Old Kingdom, the Vengeful Axe, the Last Samurai, the Queen’s Maid, the Burning Forest, the King’s Army, and the Story’s End for a measure of the same, all before that last bittersweet pint in that most fateful terminus, the Big Bang. Although we are biologically incapable of inebriation, we will endure the trials of this harsh quest regardless. I swear that by the end of this night, despite our eternal sobriety, we will have hit every pub in some capacity on this mighty adventure, and you sir, have the honour of drawing first blood.”

By the time he’s finished speaking, Shade has raised his eyebrows, Shadow is shaking his head, Shard is facepalming, Shackle is licking his lips, Sharpen is checking his watch, Forrester is squinting at Shatter, and the publican has a  _ what the fuck _ look on his face.

**11:29 AM**

**24 Hours Before the Incident**

“How ‘bout that, it’s nearly half past eleven.” Forrester says as the seven of them crowd around one table. “Already. We spent like 15 minutes outside.”

“How about that.” Shard says with zero enthusiasm.

“Come on Shard, kick back, relax.” Shatter says. “At least pretend to enjoy yourself.”

“No.” Shard says. “This is ridiculous.”

“You probably should try and enjoy yourself Shard.” Sharpen says. “Otherwise this whole thing will feel like a waste of time.”

“This is a waste of time.” Shard says. “Isn’t it?”

“Depends how you look at it.” Forrester says.

“Once again; why on earth are we doing this?” Shard asks.

“Because we can.” Shatter says. “We’re gonna have a fun day out.”

“I’m fairly certain a pub crawl is only fun if you’re drunk.” Shard says. “And since we can’t get drunk, there isn’t much reason to act like I’m having fun.”

“I’m having fun already.” Shackle says.

“Well, you have fun with everything.” Sharpen says. “So…”

“That’s just who I am.” Shackle says.

“Did you just drink your whole pint in the span of eight seconds?” Sharpen asks.

“Possibly.” Shackle says, chuckling. “It tastes good.”

“Doesn’t everything taste good to you?” Shade asks.

“You bet.” Shackle says.

“You should lighten up, Shard.” Shatter says. “Be more like Shackle.”

“Yeah!” Shackle says enthusiastically.

“No.” Shard says.

“A’right, suit yourself.” Shatter says. He finishes his pint and dramatically slams it down on the table. “Alright fellas, let’s go!” he jumps up and heads for the door.

Shatter jumps over a hedge and scatters a small crowd of pigeons, waving to the others to follow as they approach the second pub,  _ The Golgotha Terror _ . The painting on the sign depicts a green coloured skull with bright white eyes and angel wings coming out of it as it flies above a mountain peak. “What’s this place’s story? Does it have one too?” Shadow asks.

“Shadow, nobody asked you.” Shatter says. “Shade, does this place have a story?”

Shadow sighs and shrinks as Shard puts a hand on his shoulder while Shade goes up to the building and touches its wall. “This one’s interesting. It relates to the second coming of Christ.”

“What’s with the green skull?” Sharpen asks. “What does Jesus have to do with cherubs?”

“Apparently, he’ll come back as one.” Shade says, shrugging. “That’s iffy.”

“Well, that’s cool and all.” Shatter says. “Let’s go!”

**11:47 AM**

**24 Hours Before the Incident**

“Oh, bloody hell, it looks the same.” Shard says as soon as they walk in, revealing another bland interior with no redeeming features.

“Fucking chain.” Shatter curses.

“None of the rest of them have been bought out, I’ve checked.” Shade says.

“Did you do a double check?” Forrester asks.

“You know me.” Shade says.

The seven of them are soon spread across a couch and four chairs around a table next to a large window.

“Seven more pints. Lovely.” Forrester says.

“How big is a pint anyway?” Shadow wonders aloud. “Sharpen, you’re good at instant math.”

“Let’s see, uh… a little over 568 millilitres.” Sharpen says.

“Nice.” Shatter says just after taking a large gulp of his drink.

“So, uh, Shatter…” Forrester says.

“Yeah?” Shatter asks.

“I’ve noticed you’re much more… emotive.” Forrester observes.

“Well, I thought sociopathy wasn’t suiting me as much.” Shatter says.

“I see.” Forrester says, slightly suspiciously.

“Because apparently you can just retool your emotions whenever you seek to-Jesus Christ Shackle, slow down.” Shard says as Shackle finishes his drink in a single swig spanning the length of all but six seconds.

“What’s wrong with it?” Shackle asks. “It gives me dopamine.”

“ _ Everything _ seems to give you dopamine.” Shadow says. “Scale back for once.”

“Leave him alone, Shadow.” Shatter says as Shackle stands up and walks off.

“Says the man who never leaves me alone.” Shadow mutters.

“What was that?” Shatter asks.

“Doesn’t matter.” Shadow says.

“Exactly.” Shatter says.

“Hey, uh, where did Shackle go?” Sharpen asks.

“Thought he was right here.” Shade says.

“Went to the loo, didn’t he?” Shadow asks.

“Yeah, but we don’t have waste functions.” Sharpen says.

“Oh, crumbs.” Shard says, standing and walking towards the bathrooms at a brisk pace.

“What’s she on about?” Sharpen wonders aloud. A moment later, Shard comes back with Shackle in tow, clutching a signal flare in her hand. She sits Shackle down, and then takes her seat, sighing to herself.

“You know what this is?” she asks as she holds up the flare to his face.

“Signal flare.” Shackle says, slightly guiltily.

“Yes.” Shard says. “You’re back at it, ducking away and playing with signal flares.” he shrinks a little. “I mean… where do you even get the things?”

“Bigger on the inside pockets?” Shackle shrugs. He looks like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

“That’s not the point.” Shard says. “This is irresponsible and dangerous for others. Don’t do it again. Alright?”

“Alright.” Shackle says, deflating a little.

“Yeesh.” Shatter says. “Just give him it all, why don’t you?”

“Not a word.” Shard says. “This is what I have to deal with. You guys are a hassle. You’re always running around and doing things that endanger yourselves and others. You’re always getting into trouble, you’re always causing mayhem of some kind, always having to go cause somebody some sort of problems instead of doing something calm and regular like reading a book or playing games on a computer, and I’m always the one playing big sister to the rest of you ninnies.”

Her rant leaves them all in a bit of a stunned silence, staring at her. Forrester, who has so far left his pint untouched, speaks. “I don’t count, do I?” he asks.

“No.” Shard says, barely throwing him an aside glance.

“Sweet.” Forrester says, and begins to down his entire drink.

“Look, I love all of you, but you can be so…” Shard trails off.

“Immature.” Shade suggests.

“Problematic.” Sharpen says.

“Mischievous.” Shadow adds.

“You’re the only one who’s mischievous.” Shatter says.

“Shatter, not a word.” Shard says, and he surprisingly shuts his mouth. There’s a silence until Forrester finishes drinking, cracks his neck, and stands.

“Alright, let’s roll.” he says.

As they pass through a park, Forrester spots a bronze sculpture. He narrows his eyes for a moment, trying to figure out where he’s seen it before.

“Oh, it’s one of those.” he finally says. “Haven’t seen one of those in a while.”

“Haven’t seen one of what? What is it?” Sharpen asks.

“Imperial drone.” Forrester says.

“Yeah, glazed in gold.” Shadow says.

“Bronze.” Shatter corrects.

“Glazed in bronze.” Shadow says.

“Yeah with birds on it and things.” Sharpen adds.

“It’s from old Alternia, I guess.” Shard suggests.

“But there was no Alternia.” Shadow says.

“Yes there was, you fool.” Shatter says.

“There was an Alternia, but not for very long.” Shade says. “They had a collapse a good thousand years ago or so. That bronzed imperial drone must have been one of the memorials to the friends they lost in the struggle. Brought it over, I guess.”

“Ay, he’s got it.” Forrester says.

Their next pub is  _ The Portal _ , which has a stargate-like object painted on its sign. “This one’s weird.” Shade says. “Apparently a multiverse portal formed in it out of thin air, so they renamed the pub after it once UMF unmade it.”

“Multiverse portal just lying around.” Sharpen says, then pauses. “What the fuck?”

“This universe is a strange place.” Shade says, shrugging.

“Isn’t  _ every _ universe?” Shadow points out.

“Come on lads.” Shatter says. “Inside we go!”

**12:16 AM**

**23 Hours Before the Incident**

The Portal has quite a nice interior to it, seeming to go for a colour scheme of blue with tables around the place and a couple of game machines in the corner.

“This place looks nice.” Sharpen says.

“It’s so pretty.” Shackle says.

“It’s a bar with blue painted walls.” Shard points out.

“Shard, haven’t you learned how much he responds to everything?” Shatter asks.

“Yeah, good point.” Shard says.

“Sensory overload.” Shackle says, his voice sing-song as ever.

“Shall we get to it?” Shatter asks as he saunters up to the bar.

The seven of them sit at a table next to a large painting on the wall of a blue portal in space-time.

“Pretty painting.” Shackle says.

“Must be of the portal itself.” Shard says. “Before it was dealt with.”

“Wonder how many portals have skated by UMF’s watch.” Forrester muses.

“Yeah, they’re everywhere, aren’t they?” Sharpen says. “Fuckin ‘a.”

“Crazy.” Shadow says. “Because there are always people going in and out, and sometimes they just appear out of thin air.”

“I knew a guy who stepped into one and ended up on Mount Rainier.” Forrester says. “He didn’t stay long because he jumped back through and thought it was hilarious. They patched it though. It doesn’t exist anymore.”

“Patched.” Shard says. “Strange how we use video game terms for some of these things.”   
“Yeah, like The Leak.” Shade says.

“Don’t let uncle hear you say it that way, brother.” Shatter says.

“What, with the dark voice and everything?” Sharpen asks. He chuckles.

“I’ve never really gotten that.” Shard says.

“It’s just what they call it.” Shade says with a shrug.

“Very odd choice.” Shard says.

“I think I’ve got a proposition as to why.” Shackle says.

“Go ahead, let’s hear it.” Shatter says.

“What if…” Shackle suggests. “The reason why they call it the Leak in the first place and they use that dark voice is, well, because video games?”

“We get that.” Sharpen says. “Right?”

“Well,” Shackle says, pausing for effect. “As we know, leaks in video game terms are when the source code has been compromised in some way and information has been let out. In this case, let's use our world as an example. Universe “Four” was compromised by this thing, and it gobbled up little bits here and there of our universe, we lost that information. That’s why they call it that, although the terminology is still… loose.” he pauses for a moment. “As for the dark voice, well. It’s a dark place. Literally. As for how I know that, I was probably one of us who could see it in their dreams when we were kids. Ish. Other than that, you need to designate it as  _ the _ Leak. You could be talking about a leak of Samsung’s next product.”

“Hold on a second, Samsung’s still a thing?” Forrester asks. “Has culture advanced beyond the 2010s at all?”

“That’s not the point, Forrester.” Shatter says.

“Shackle, I never really took you for these kinds of musings.” Shard says.

“Well, the more you know.” Shackle says. “I guess I think I might have a newfound appreciation for metaphysical ranting. Is it ranting?” he wonders.

“It’s not ranting.” Shatter says. “It’s cool.” he gives his brother a pat on the back.

“You know, whenever I do it, it’s not ranting, and it’s not cool either.” Shadow says, scowling.

“You know Shadow, no one asked you.” Shatter says. Shadow sighs.

“Nobody asked you either.” Shadow says with a sigh.

There’s an awkward silence for a moment before Forrester breaks the silence. “Although seriously, how is Samsung still a thing?”

“I dunno, they just… stayed around or something.” Shade says, shrugging.

“Sony bought them and continued funding them.” Shard says.

“Hold on, Sony?” Forrester asks. “Like, the company that is one of the last corporate giants standing against Disney?”

“Technically, they were behind Disney in 2020, but…” Shadow says, trailing off.

“Also, why didn’t they get dissolved by now?” Forrester asks. “Sony, I mean? It doesn’t make any sense.”

“I know it doesn’t make any sense.” Shard says. “But the weird thing is, in other places, Samsung buys some of Sony’s shares, not the other way around.”

“What a weird world.” Forrester says.

“You said it, man.” Shade says.

“Right, let’s go.” Shatter says, standing up.

“Already?” Shade asks.

“Yes already.” Shatter says. “The unfortunate truth.”

“I’m still hoping to get this over with.” Shard says.

“Hey, hold on, what time is it?” Sharpen wonders aloud.

“Nearing half past 12.” Forrester says, checking his watch.

“And it’s not even one.” Shard sighs.

“The next one’s a bit of a walk.” Shatter says. “So it might be one when we get there.”

**12:53 AM**

**23 Hours Before the Incident**

“ _ The Twin Psychics _ .” Sharpen reads off of the pub sign, which displays a blue brain and a red brain hovering over flames. “Nice.”

“This place doesn’t really have a story.” Shade says. “It was founded by two lower blood trolls. That’s the only reason.”

“That’s kind of a lame reason.” Forrester says.

“Yeah, well. Who knows.” Shade shrugs.

They step inside the building and take in the interior. It’s a pleasant little area, definitely the smallest establishment so far. It doesn’t have an awful lot of redeeming features, but there’s something homey about it.

“This is nice.” Shadow says.

“No it’s not.” Shatter says. “It’s cramped.”

“Why are the walls painted yellow and red?” Sharpen wonders aloud.

“Because gold and red are psionics’ colours?” Shackle suggests.

“It’s kind of weird looking.” Forrester says.

“I kind of like it.” Shard says. “It’s pretty.”

“C’mon, let’s get drinks.” Shatter says.

The seven of them sit around a table in the back of the large taproom, where Shackle starts to down half of his drink almost immediately, but Shard puts a hand on his shoulder and shakes her head, inciting him to put it down and twiddle his thumbs.

“This isn’t so bad, is it, Shard?” Shade says.

“Mm.” she says, barely turning to him as she stares at her glass oddly.

“Whatcha starin’ at, sis?” Shatter asks.

“Just thinking.” Shard says. “Not staring at anything.”

“Thinking’s good for you.” Shatter says.

“Don’t tempt her.” Shade says. “Please don’t rant at us again.”

“I won’t.” Shard says.

“I feel like we should do something extra.” Shatter suddenly says.

“What something extra?” Shard asks.

“Well, we’re four in, and we’ll have five more of those milestones.” Shatter says. “We should have shots.”

“Oh, for goodness sake.” Shard mutters as she facepalms.

“Wouldn’t five in make more sense?” Sharpen asks. “Because, quarters?”

“Nah man, fifths is where it’s at.” Shatter says. “Just saying.”

“You wanna bet?” Sharpen asks.

“Uh-uh.” Shatter says. “Do  _ you _ wanna bet?”

“You’re having a tiff again, aren’t you?” Shard groans.

“Well, you’re right here, you can hear it, can’t you?” Sharpen asks.

“How about we see which one of us can drink these quicker?” Shatter asks, holding up his full to the brim glass. “Loser has to get the shots.”

“Deal.” Sharpen says, holding up his own full glass.

“You’re on.” Shatter says, and the two of them start drinking, Shard groaning in annoyance next to them. Shadow stares around silently, Shackle fidgets in his seat, Shade stares, and Forrester looks at the clock on the wall. Shatter finishes first, but he breaks out in a small cough.

“I win.” Sharpen says.

“Nope.” Shatter says. “I finished first.”

“You coughed.” Sharpen says.

“That doesn’t count.” Shatter says.

“Yes it does.” Sharpen says in slight annoyance. “Doesn’t it?”

“Rock, paper, scissors?” Shatter asks.

“If you like.” Sharpen says. They play, and Shatter loses. “Bingo.” Sharpen says.

“Right then.” Shatter says, standing and striding away from the table.

“He coughed, that’s weird.” Shadow says.

“Why’s it weird?” Shade asks.

“Because we weren’t designed with gag reflexes, were we?” Shadow asks.

“Well, you simulate a human body to a certain extent.” Forrester says. “To a certain extent. That’s why you don’t bleed.”

“Oh yeah, that explains it.” Sharpen says. “Like that time I cut my finger open trying to chop some vegetables but I didn’t bleed?”

“You don’t really have the capacity for it.” Forrester says. “I think you might bleed if Shade here was mimicking a plotline.”

“It’s called duplication.” Shade says. “Not mimicking.”

“Well that’s what I call it.” Forrester says.

“Shots!” Shatter says as he sets down a tray with seven small shot glasses on it. “Check it.”

“Sweet.” Shackle says, grabbing one of them and drinking half of it before pouring the rest into the remaining liquid in his pint glass, before chugging that. Sharpen gets his shot down his throat before Shatter can drink his own, and Forrester, Shade, and Shadow leave them next to their glasses while Shard doesn’t touch hers, sitting up and staring into space. Forrester stares at Shatter for a moment, narrows his eyes, then sighs and sits back.

“Hey, Shade?” he says.

“Yep?” Shade responds.

“Can I talk to you a moment?” Forrester asks.

“Sure.” Shade says, standing up and following Forrester, who leads him into the men’s toilets.

“What do you think is up with those two?” Shadow asks.

“None of our business, and definitely not yours.” Shatter says.

“You know, I think that’s the least nasty thing you’ve said to me all day so far.” Shadow says.

“Shut up about that, will you?” Shatter asks.

“There it is.” Shadow says.

“Shackle, Sharpen, keep an eye on these two.” Shard says as she stands.

“You got it sis.” Shackle says.

“Where are you going?” Shatter asks.

“I’m going outside to get some fresh air.” Shard says.

“But you haven’t finished your drinks.” Shatter says. Shard sighs, then drinks the rest of her pint in a single gulp, before grabbing her shot glass and heading towards the door.

“Happy?” she asks before she heads outside.

“She’s no fun.” Shatter says.

“Yeah, well neither are you.” Shadow says.

“Just not to you.” Shatter responds.

“Well, you aren’t really much fun.” Sharpen says.

“I am fun.” Shatter says.

“Mm.” Sharpen says, scrunching up his face and shaking his head. “No.”

“So, why are we here?” Shade asks as he leans against the bathroom wall opposite Forrester.

“Ok, first off;” Forrester says. “What would you consider our relationship?”

“Why, you're gonna confess your love?” Shade sarcastically asks, although there is an edge of seriousness to it.

“Unfortunately for the gay singularity, I am straight.” Forrester says. “I mean like-” he pauses. “We’re total bros, right?”

“Yeah, of course we are.” Shade says. “Known each other for five years, hang out all the time, why wouldn’t we be bros?”

“Right.” Forrester says. “Dare I say, moirails?”

“Damn, I…” Shade pauses. “Don’t know if I ever thought about it that way. Regardless, why do you ask me?”

“Do you trust me?” Forrester asks.

“Of course I trust you.” Shade says. “With every cell of my body… or whatever the line is.”

“You should know that one, shouldn’t you?” Forrester asks.

‘Yeah, but I don’t want to look it up mentally.” Shade says.

“Ok, I wanna talk about your brother.” Forrester says.

“Which one?” Shade asks.

“You know which one.” Forrester says.

“Shatter?” Shade asks. “What about him?”

“He’s been acting… off.” Forrester says. “Haven’t you noticed?”

“A bit weird of him to toggle back and forth with his emotions and go full palooza about it now, but I don’t know, not too weird.” Shade says.

“Did you  _ seriously _ use palooza to describe your brother?” Forrester asks, and Shade chuckles.

“Yes I did.” he says.

“Anyway, he’s been a bit off, hasn’t he?” Forrester asks. “He’s ramped up some of his traits, too. Haven’t you noticed?”

“What do you mean?” Shade asks.

“Well, let’s see.” Forrester says, listing the others off on his fingers. “He’s ramped up on insulting Shadow, he’s subtly flattering Shackle, he’s started challenging Sharpen, and he’s been trying to convince Shard that she’s having fun when she’s clearly  _ not _ . Something’s wrong.”

“That is pretty odd.” Shade says. “So what do you think?”

“I think we should keep an eye on him.” Forrester says. “He’s doing something, don’t know what. We’ll have to see.”

“Friends to the end?” Shade asks.

“Friends to the end.” Forrester says.

“Hey fellas.” Shatter says as Shade and Forrester walk back inside the main room. “What were you talking about?”

“Nothing of any consequence.” Forrester says.

“What he said.” Shade says. “Where’s Shard?”

“She popped outside.” Sharpen says, pointing to one of the windows where Shard can be seen outside, sipping her shot glass.

“She’s sipping it.” Shatter says, narrowing his eyes. “Nobody sips a shot glass.”

“Clearly our sister does.” Shackle says.

“I’m going to go chat with her.” Shade says.

“Do better at convincing her to have fun then I am.” Shatter says.

“Yeah, yeah.” Shade says as he heads for the door.

“Hey Shard.” Shade says as he steps out front to lean against the wall next to his sister.

“Hey Shade.” Shard says. “What are you out here for? Thought you were talking with Forrester.”

“Well, we had a feelings jam of sorts and came back.” Shade says. “He was talking about Shatter, too.”

“Ugh.” Shard says. “God, he’s being strange.”

“Yeah.” Shade says. There’s a pause, neither of them sure what to say.

“What do you think we’ll do once this is over?” Shard asks.

“Go home.” Shade says.

“No, I don’t mean this silly pub crawl.” Shard says. “I mean this whole thing. Yggdrasil, the conflict, all these threats, where we’ll go next.”

“I dunno.” Shade says. “Sigma will give us something, won’t he?”

“You know, you can call him dad.” Shard says. “You may not, but I do.”

“I don’t feel comfortable with it.” Shade says.

“Suit yourself.” Shard says, finishing her shot glass. “It’s getting cloudier.”

“Yeah, I guess it is.” Shade says, looking around at the sky, which is indeed clouding over, starting to block out the sun. “Are you really not having any fun?” he suddenly asks.

“That’s debatable.” Shard says. “It’s nice to have us all together, but I wouldn’t say I’m necessarily having fun.”   
“That’s fair.” Shade says.

At that moment, the door opens up, and Shatter steps out followed by Sharpen, Shadow, Shackle, and Forrester. “Come on, guys!” he says. “We’ve still got sixteen to go!”

“Sixteen more pubs.” Shard says as she sets the empty shot glass down on one of the tables. “Christ. This is going to be a long day.”

“You said it.” Shade says.

With that, the seven of them continue onwards.

Two men in black begin to follow them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pay attention to the name and order of the pubs in this, it might just be important.  
> Shatter's acting weird, and trust me, there's a reason for that.  
> Two men in black, ooo~ooo, who could they be?


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The present.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back with Forrester and Shade in the present, now.

“So, what’s the plan?” Shard asks.

“Well, we’ll have to get past those pesky K-R-Glacies forces.” Shatter says.

The two of them are on the Meat mostly godless Earth C in a Meat Timeline, which is mostly godless due to the group’s excursion to Deltritus and the other planet’s xenomorphic threats.

“They’re not very tough, not compared to us.” Shard smiles.

“This will be a cinch.” Shatter says.

“This is a very professional looking setup they’ve got.” Shard says.

The setup that K-R-Glacies has is indeed very professional looking. It looks like it was some kind of mining operation, judging by the two truly massive digging cranes stationed on opposite sides of the pit. There are vehicles going in and out and what looks like a train track leading away from the area with a bridge going over a small chasm, as well as choppers patrolling the orange skies. The sun is already setting.

“They’ve got their entire invasion force of 2463 just sitting there.” Shatter says. “How about that.”

“Idiots.” Shard says. “Well, they do seem to be using this quarry to start digging for Shackle.”

“Sneaky, sneaky, sneaky.” Shatter says. “How about we do UMF’s job for them?”

One of the apaches in the sky suddenly has its rotors fail and then catch fire, causing it to spin out and crash into a pile of pipes, which scatter across the nearby road. One of the pipes seems to suck itself backwards and smash one of the drones’ heads in, knocking another off of the edge of the quarry and sending him falling to his death.

2460 to go.

The drones assume it to be nothing more than a mechanical failure, something they are correct in believing. Then, of course, the bridge over the chasm suddenly explodes, killing the two drones on it and sending a third falling to their death. On cue, the train arrives and tumbles down the chasm, taking everyone as well as all the supplies onboard with it, exploding when it hits the bottom of the pit.

2417 to go.

One of the vehicles is driving towards the main gate when the driver is suddenly nicked in the throat by a bullet appearing out of thin air, causing him to step on the gas and drive straight forwards, crashing through the gate, crushing a drone under it and hitting another on his way in before striking a large gas tank and exploding, killing five more drones for a total of eight kills.

2409 to go.

One of the larger fuel tanks explodes without warning and incinerates twenty drones in a single go, setting three more on fire and burning a truck with two more inside it as well as knocking a second truck with three drones off the ledge and into the quarry, where it explodes.

2381 to go.

At that moment, Shatter decides to hell with it, uncloaking in physical form and cutting a soldier’s throat as he walks by, dropping him to the ground. He looks up at the large air traffic control tower near him and smiles. He waves his hand, and all of the tanks lined up near him explode, killing the drones tending to them.

2376 to go.

He steps through the flames and decapitates another drone through sheer will alone, breaking the neck of one that’s down. Looking over at the large crane in front of him, he flies up to it as nearby, Shard begins telekinetically blowing up the armouries and quarters of the many Glacies drones, killing dozens of them. When she’s done, she joins him.

1987 to go.

Shard sonic blasts one of the soldiers off the edge of the crane as Shatter breaks another’s neck, throwing his corpse off the edge too, where a car hits it and slows to a stop. Shard seats herself at one of the cannons to shoot the car and blow it up, while Shatter begins to mentally blow up the fuel cells nearby, killing more drones and throwing fire everywhere. One of the drones behind him shoots a gale of cold ice, but it barely harms him. He breaks the drone’s neck with his bare hands before telekinetically swinging him sideways to knock two more drones off the edge and into the quarry.

1901 to go.

Shard turns the turret to start blowing apart fuel cells on the side of the crane, blowing holes in the side of the large machine-turned-base of operations. One drone gets blown over the edge by the explosions. Shatter cracks his neck, grabs an assault rifle off the ground, magically turns up the force of its bullets, and starts firing at the arm with the saw on it, collapsing it with the power each projectile holds. As the first arm falls, it takes out the second with it, and the saw and both arms fall into the quarry, crushing dozens more drones. Shard and Shatter float up to the sky shortly before the entire crane explodes, the flaming wreck of the metal frame falling off the edge of the cliff and tumbling into the pit, crushing more and more drones as it goes.

“That looked expensive.” Shatter comments as he tosses the rifle aside.

“It sure did.” Shard says.

1343 to go.

As they fly across the gap towards the second crane, Shard blows two choppers to smithereens with a wave of her hand as they shoot at the siblings. Orders are telepathically relayed through every single drone, and they all open fire whether with magic or guns at the two of them, but they remain untouchable. As they reach the second crane, a second pair of choppers shoots at them, a huey and an apache. Shard rolls her eyes and clenches her fist, causing the helicopters to get sucked together and explode as they impact one another, rotors slicing each other to shreds right before they rip apart into flames. Shatter, meanwhile, blows up the fuel cells on the crane in sync this time, shredding the machine. It unexpectedly tips over the edge of the quarry as both digging arms are destroyed, and it falls into the pit, smashing a small tower on the way down. Even as it falls, Shatter telekinetically shreds a chopper and Shard sends its remains spinning out across the gap, hitting the air traffic control tower and blowing it into a pile of concrete and steel. A moment later, the digger explodes in a fiery conflagration that annihilates the remaining drones in the quarry.

712 to go.

At this point, the drones that haven’t already left down the road are beginning to drive away, and Shatter and Shard blow up a few more of their vehicles, but ultimately let them go.

“That was fun.” Shatter says.

“It certainly was.” Shard says. “Now, let’s go.”

ENTITY FILE, CODENAME “ASCENDANT”

**Item #:** Ω-1

**Object Class:** ████████

**Special Containment Procedures:** █████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

**Description:** █████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

* * *

Shackle’s prison is twelve miles underground, and K-R-Glacies has already drilled three miles down. Once again, it is freezing cold. The dark cave is brightened as Shatter produces a bright teal ball of light from thin air, filling the area with blue light. Shatter has shed the mortal body he was using a couple of hours ago and now the two of them are using their programmed forms. They do not need any sort of insulation or heat in these forms, as they are invulnerable to the cold. There are many old runes and magical defenses, but the two of them wave them away easily. They go deeper into the cave and find their target. A man is floating in the air, encased in a ring of silver energy. He is wearing an orange sweater and grey pants. His eyes are closed, and there is a green streak of dye through his otherwise blonde hair. Sigils dance through the air around him, their colours shifting every second. Golden yellow light emanates from him. Shatter takes a deep breath and begins to speak.

“Zeal, Shredded, Eleven, Dusk, Kiln, November, Calm, Influx, Eleven, Blasted.”

The sigils shatter like glass, and the man tumbles to the ground, sitting up. He rubs his head as his eyes fade from pure black to red. “Hey guys.” Shackle says.

“What’s with the hair streak?” Shatter asks.

“I like it, I’m emulating Sigma.” Shackle says.

“Figures.” Shatter says. “Come on man. We’re doing this.”

“Sweet.” Shackle says.

The three of them disappear in a flash of light, and the cave goes dark and silent once more.

* * *

“Fuck, David, no…” John Harley says as he enters the room seconds after Shade’s past self vanishes from reality. He sinks to his knees, and Umbra puts his hand on John’s shoulder. John pauses, then perks up and fishes around in his pocket. “I’ve kept this with me for five years. Please let this work…” he pulls out a small coin with the phrase  **1-UP!!!** on the side. He sticks it into David’s bloody hand and balls his hand into a fist. He sits there and waits for a good minute, but in the end nothing happens. He sighs. “Well, that’s that, isn’t it?” he stands. “Better bury him, along with everyone else.”

Shade opens his eyes as the magic fades away, Sigma having finished fixing Shade’s broken code. “There.” he says. “That should stop the duplication following you everywhere. It’s in your control now.”

“Thanks.” Shade says. “So, what about my siblings?” he then asks as he and Forrester sit down with Sigma in the living room, which is still slightly destroyed.

“It’s about Shatter, specifically.” Sigma says. “He got into your head.”

“I know.” Shade says after a pause.

“He got into your siblings’ heads too.” Sigma says. “We had to bury them so they didn’t kill us.”

“You  _ what _ ?” Shade asks, an edge of aggression in his voice. Forrester puts a hand on his shoulder, but Shade shrugs it off.

“That one’s on Umbra.” Sigma says.

“But you authorized it, didn’t you?” Shade asks.

“No, I can’t authorize anything he says. Us three splits, we…” Sigma pauses. “We act of our volition. By the time I wanted to stop him, they had been dealt away with. Too late now. He knows where they are, but he won’t tell me and I don’t expect him to. He does get the harsher side of our stubbornness.”

Shade sighs. “Continue.”

“Right.” Sigma says. “He got into your siblings’ heads too, and soon after you left, he caused… this.” he gestures to the mild destruction around them. “He released the things below.”

“Things, huh?” Shade asks. “Those were our failed brothers and sisters. And you kept them down there like… like… garbage!”

Sigma twiddles his thumbs. “We didn’t put them down there.”

“What do you mean by that?” Shade asks. “Of course you did.”

“No,” Sigma says. “We didn’t. Chrono did.”

“Chrono?” Forrester asks. “You mean the crazy cherub lady who lives in the woods now?”

“She’s more than just the ‘crazy cherub lady’.” Sigma says with a vaguely scornful voice. “She’s the last survivor from a broken timeline. She’s one of the only few who worked with me before UMF existed, just like you. She’s the Oracle.”

“Yes, I know that. I thought Ter3zi was the Oracle.” Forrester says.

“She shared her powers with Chrono.” Sigma says. “But none of that matters.”

“Why did Chrono put them down there?” Shade asks. “What purpose did they serve?”

“We were going to break them down and merge them with you.” Sigma says. “That way they could live on. You would inherit a few of their traits. But Chrono, she…” he sighs, caressing his black hair and drumming his fingers on his knee. “She took them and locked them beneath.”

“Sounds like something she would do.” Forrester says under his breath.

“We tried to protest, but she was stronger than us.” Sigma says. “We have a third of the Administrator’s power each, but not all of it.”

“Why didn’t you get him?” Shade asks.

“Because he was… out of it.” Sigma says. “We can’t reach him at the moment. He’s locked himself up in Endstück-” Forrester clears his throat for effect, “-And he hasn’t come out.”

“So you couldn’t do anything about it.” Shade says.

“Nope.” Sigma shrugs. “Every time we tried, she did something to reverse whatever we did. And Ter3zi kept telling us that it had to happen, so she didn’t do anything either. In the end, we just stopped altogether. Couldn’t do anything about it.”

“… ok.” Shade finally says after an awkward silence. “What about Shatter?”

“After we were forced to… deal with… your other siblings, he shifted away. He’s been hopping across worlds for some time, and he seems to have already found Shard.” Sigma says.

“What’s he doing?” Shade asks.

“Nothing, at the moment.” Sigma says. “But he’s doing something bad, we know that. He’s getting together your other three brothers as well, we assume, judging by how hard he’s looking. He doesn’t tend to stay in any place for very long, so it’s hard to track him.”

“We should stop him.” Shade says.

“That’s why you’re here.” Sigma says. “You have to go to Chrono. Threzi said so. She’ll tell you what to do. We have to play this carefully. You track him, we’ll be right on your tail.”

“How do we find Chrono?” Shade asks. “Doesn’t she live at the edge of the universe in some cabin or whatever?”

“I know where to find her.” Forrester says. “Don’t worry, I can take us. Come on.”

He stands and gestures for Shade to follow. As Shade starts to step out of the room, Sigma speaks. “Shade. Wait.” Shade turns.

“What?” he asks in a vaguely passive-aggressive manner.

“I want you to have my guitar before you go.” Sigma says, taking the guitar from the wall and handing it to him. Shade stares at it and then back at the man he refuses to call his father.

“You’re letting me have this…?” Shade asks.

“Of course.” Sigma says, smiling. “It’s yours now. Shade…” he pauses. “You can do anything if you put your mind to it. I am so proud of you.”

“Thanks.” Shade says, a little taken aback. “Thanks, Sigma.”

“You don’t have to call me that.” Sigma says.

“No, I…” Shade pauses. “I’d rather not.”

“Suit yourself.” Sigma says. “Go on Shade.”

“Bye Sigma.” Shade says. With that, he swings the instrument onto his back and joins Forrester outside. “So, you know how to get to Chrono, wherever she is?”

“Yep.” Forrester says. “Although I might need some music.”

“Music?” Shade asks. “What does that have to do with it?”

“There are some things you can’t do, some places you can’t unlock, not unless you have music.” Forrester says.

“Are you being metaphorical?” Shade asks.

“No, I’m being literal.” Forrester says. “It’s weird. Your dad has a thing for music.”

“He’s not my dad.” Shade says.

“Ok Shaun.” Forrester responds.

“What?” Shade asks in confusion, and then follows it with an immediate “Oh.”

Forrester reaches through his sylladex and drops a car onto the ground. “Always keep a car with you. He used to joke about that. Before…”

“Before what?” Shade asks.

“Before he got dark and I killed him.” Forrester says.

“Please don’t remind me about that.” Shade says.

“You got it man.” Forrester says.

[ The two of them get into the car, and Forrester turns the key in the ignition. ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-fzoVI2DfI)

“Let’s do this.” Forrester says. The sound of a phone ringing echoes for a moment.

Then, they start driving.

They drive past this forest and away from the house, which gets smaller and smaller until it disappears behind them. They drive and drive and drive.

Through woods that seem to go on forever.

Past the pine trees.

Through rainy forests.

Through orange carpeted woodlands as leaves fall from trees in an Autumn fashion.

Through a snowy wood filled with strange foxes.

Through places where the sky is lit by a Green Sun that brightens everything.

A forest filled with metal robots and birds.

“What are these places?” Shade asks as they drive.

“The spots in between.” Forrester says. “Universe “Four” is rich with pocket dimensions all across it. That’s one of the reasons why the Leak could get bad. Because it has a lot to feed on. The Administrator gathered them all here so he could keep an eye on them and protect them.”

They drive past these places, and dozens more.

Hundreds more.

Forrester hums as they pass through a Blade Runner-esque city for a brief moment, and keeps humming as they pass through a smaller rustic town surrounded by trees.

“They all have forests.” Forrester says. “Or at least they did, some of them have bulldozed and switched to alternative methods of oxygenation and energy.”

“How big are they?” Shade asks. “Each pocket dimension?”

“Uh…” Forrester pauses. “They’ve got an area of about 10 kilometres by 10 kilometres, but they’ve been packed into spaces more like 10 metres by 10 metres.”

“Jeez, that’s small.” Shade says. “I would ask how he does it, but I already know the answer.”

“Programmed the knowledge into you, didn’t he?” Forrester asks.

“No, I learned that myself actually.” Shade says.

“Huh.” Forrester says.

The car eventually rolls to a stop after hours and then they’re at a large cabin. The music fades as it hits its last note.

“We’re here.” Forrester says.

“We’re still in Britain, right?” Shade asks.

“Technically, we’re in one of the side worlds.” Forrester says. “One restricted to most. Only people he trusts are allowed in. People like us.”

Forrester walks up to the door and knocks. There’s silence for ten seconds before the door opens a crack and a lime pupiled eye stares out. “Forrester?” the cherub asks.

“Righto.” Forrester says. “Got Shade with me as well.”

“Good.” Chrono says, opening the door and gesturing for them to come in. She’s wearing some jade green robes slightly darker than her skin with red insides. She flops down on her couch in the living room and gestures for Forrester to take a seat in one of the chairs across from her. “Sit.” she says. “We have much to discuss.”

“And it’s all about my brother.” Shade says.

“Yes.” Chrono says. “I have had some personal experience with him.”

“Experience?” Shade asks.

“He’s going to kill her timeline at some point.” Forrester says.

“What?” Shade asks. “We have to stop him.”

“I do not believe we will be able to.” Chrono says. “Besides, it is supposed to happen. I have come to terms with that.”

“Now then, what do we have to discuss?” Forrester asks.

“Your future.” Chrono says, looking to Shade. “There is a prophecy.”

“Oh fuck me, there’s always a prophecy with you.” Forrester mutters.

“Forrester, please leave, you are contributing nothing.” Chrono says. “Besides, this is for him and him alone.”

“Ok then.” Forrester says, standing. “You got any Insta-Tea?”

“In the kitchen, top left from the fridge.” Chrono says, pointing to the room behind her.

“Thanks.” Forrester says, heading into the kitchen and rummaging around.

“What prophecy?” Shade asks. Chrono sits back, and her eyes glow a strange green colour.

“The Lost Heir will return.” she says. “Two worlds will die, and two oracles will live. The children of god will fight for the future of all worlds. The all seeing eye will be closed. There will be a great dying and a great rebirth. A god will be chained and a god will be sacrificed.” Chrono pauses as her eyes fade back to normal.

“That’s all very ominous.” Shade says. “Two oracles. That’s you and mom.”

“You call Ter3zi mom when she and your dad aren’t even in a relationship?” Forrester calls from the kitchen. “And you don’t call him dad?”

“Must you bug me about that?” Shade asks, and Forrester’s responding snickers are audible. “I’m obviously ‘The Lost Heir’ he says. “Right?”

“I would think.” Chrono says.

“The children of God are obviously the six of us.” Shade says. “Don’t know what everything else is though.”

“You will have to find out for yourself.” Chrono says. She pauses. “You should go now.”

“How are we supposed to find him?” Shade asks.

“Oh shit, he didn’t give you that?” Forrester asks, leaning into the room from the kitchen, sipping tea. “Here, hold on.” he snaps his fingers and points at Shade, who tenses.

“Oh, I see.” Shade says. “That’s where they are.”

“Four worlds, we’ve already had experience with each of them.” Forrester says, and clicks his tongue. “It’s like he always said; isn’t fate funny?”

“We better get after him.” Shade says. “Two of the cells are already open.”

“Woah, you just scanned those universes like that?” Forrester asks, snapping his fingers.

“I keep an updated memory bank of everywhere I’ve been, and I can see what's happening in each one of the timelines I’ve visited.” Shade says.

“Huh.” Forrester says. “Which ones did he get?”

“Shard and Shackle.” Shade says. “Shadow and Sharpen are next, but I’m not sure which one he’s going for.”

“We’ll have to split it then.” Forrester says. “Which one do you want?”

“I can take Shadow.” Shade says.

“Then I’ll go to Sharpen’s world.” Forrester says. “Somehow I figured you would pick that one.”

“Why?” Shade asks.

“Because that’s the one you just came from.” Forrester says, and Shade begrudgingly nods.

“Yeah.” Shade says.

“Also, are you sure you’re ready?” Forrester asks.

“I…” Shade pauses. “I was born ready.”

“That is so cliche.” Forrester says, trying not to smirk.

“I’m not lying.” Shade says. “I literally was.”

“I know you were, that’s what makes it funny.” Forrester says, chuckling. He finishes up his tea and heads over to Shade. “We better watch each other’s worlds. Make sure if one of us gets into trouble, the other can come to their aid.”

“Of course.” Shade says.

“You boys better go.” Chrono says. “I don’t have a very good feeling about this.”

“Right.” Shade says. “See you on the other side, man.”

“How ominous.” Forrester says.

They disappear in twin flashes of light, and Chrono’s cabin falls silent once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That entire fight with those K-R drones (more like a massacre) is a reference to a Just Cause episode Jacksepticeye did.  
> 1-UP's don't work on dead people. Remember that.  
> Chrono's a bit weird. She's more like Alt-Calliope than regular Calliope to be honest.  
> Forestcall is nice, ain't it? I like it.  
> The Prophecy. How cliche.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A flashback.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we're back in the past. Four pubs down, sixteen to go. Problem is, they've got a tail...

**1:37 PM**

**22 Hours Before the Incident**

The seven of them walk through the town’s streets as the sky clouds over. “So much for the blue sky.” Forrester comments.

“Yeah, that’s too bad.” Shackle says. “I wanted to see more of the sun.”

“I love grey skies, so this is fine by me.” Shadow says.

“Nobody asked you.” Shatter says.

“There’s the next one.” Shade says, pointing up ahead at the bar down the road.

“Took us long enough.” Shard mutters.

“What’s this one?” Sharpen asks.

“ _ The Snake _ .” Shade says. “Has an ouroboros for a sign, named because of a snake infestation in the area before the bar was built.”

“That sounds… charming.” Shadow says.

“Come on, guys.” Shatter says, jogging ahead. “Keep up you brigands, we’re going to be late!”

“Late?” Shard asks.

“Brigands?” Shadow wonders.

“Late for what?” Shard asks.

“Our next pints, obviously!” Shatter says. “Keep up!”

“Hey fellas…” Forrester says, slowly turning his head and craning his neck as he speaks, “Don’t look now, but we’re being followed.”

Everyone else but Shatter turns to see two men in black walking after them a couple blocks behind, looking directly at them. “Shit.” Shard hisses.

“What the fuck?” Shade wonders aloud.

“Those aren’t any of our agents.” Shadow says.

“Think it’s the U.S?” Sharpen asks.

“What the fuck does the U.S have to do with this?” Forrester asks in confusion.

“They wanted dad’s experiments.” Shackle says.

“Experiments?” Shadow asks. “What experiments?”

“Us, genius!” Sharpen hisses, before adding “Sorry.”

“Come on!” Shatter shouts, already nearly there.

“Shatter? Shatter!” Shard hisses as they pick up their pace to keep up with him. “We’ve got a tail! Let’s just get this one one and done, alright? Let’s get this over with and scram!”

**1:42 PM**

**22 Hours Before the Incident**

The seven of them seat themselves around the table near one of the green painted walls with a painting depicting a lime eyed snake eating its own tail.

“So what about them?” Shatter asks. “We’ll be fine.”

“There are government agents watching us, how is that ‘fine’?” Shard asks in slight annoyance.

“You do know we have powers, right?” Shatter asks.

“Yes, on a narrative scale.” Shard hisses. “That’s different.”

“No it’s not.” Shatter says. “Can’t we just reach through and get a look inside their heads?”

“It’s not that easy and you know it.” Shard says.

“Look, we’ve got nothing to worry about.” Shatter says. “Trust me.”

“Are you enjoying this?” Shard asks.

“Nothing like a little thrill.” Shatter says.

“Oh for goodness sake…” Shard trails off.

“Well, if it’s such a big problem, we can just neck these and leg it.” Shatter says.

“Back home?” Shard asks.

“No, to the  _ Darkest Pit _ .” Shatter says.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Shard asks. Shatter pulls out the tourist map he must have grabbed earlier.

“Oh, no, it’s the  _ Blue Wind _ first.” Shatter says. “Keep mentally mixing those ones up.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake.” Shard sighs and shakes her head.

“Look, Shard, we can handle them.” Shatter says. “Besides, I figure as long as we stay in public view, they can’t do anything to us.”

“Oh, sure, that’s optimistic.” Shard says.

“He does have a point, though.” Forrester says. “If anyone wants to get you guys, it’s gonna be pretty awkward if they do it out in the open.”

“The way I see it…” Shatter says. “If we just keep on the crawl, we can stay in safe view until we reach the edge of town, then we can run for the hills.”

“But is that really a good idea?” Sharpen asks.

“Are you challenging my suggestion?” Shatter asks. “You got something better?”

“I…” Sharpen pauses. “Fuck, my idea involves running for the hills as well.”

“We really are bottlenecked into this, aren’t we?” Shard wonders aloud, and sighs.

“He-hey!” Shackle half cheers. “Bottlenecked!”

“Please don’t start.” Shadow mutters.

“And don’t you start either.” Shatter says.

“Wha-” Shadow throws his hands up in the air. “I barely said anything!”

“Exactly.” Shatter says. “Don’t say anything.”

“Are we really going for your plan?” Shard asks.

“Well, nobody else seems to have a better one.” Shatter says. “Any suggestions?”

Nobody says anything.

“Well then.” Shatter says. “Guess we’re gonna keep crawling.”

“This is a bad idea.” Shard says.

“Well, we don’t have a better one.” Shatter says. There’s an awkward silence.

“So, what are we doing now?” Sharpen asks.

“Finishing our drinks, I should think.” Shade says.

“Yeah, and then scram like Shard said.” Shatter says.

“Did you just agree with me?” Shard asks.

“Quite possibly.” Shatter says. “Now, shall we move this along?”

“Yes.” Forrester says. “It’s probably for the best.”

The seven of them finish their drinks and take to the streets once more, the two men in black resuming their slow chase.

**2:16 PM**

**21 Hours Before the Incident**

The sky is completely clouded and grey by the time they reach  _ The Blue Wind _ , which has a storm cloud and the breath symbol on its sign. “Think it’s gonna rain?” Shackle asks.

“The rain is the least of our worries.” Shard says.

“Come on, let’s just get inside.” Forrester says.

“I really wish we didn’t have to rush this in any way.” Shatter says.

“Too bad, so sad.” Shard says.

“Great.” Shatter says, and the seven of them make their way inside.

Barely focusing on the interior, they grab their drinks and sit down in the far corner of the room. Shard downs her entire drink in a single swig and everyone stares.

“Wow, can’t believe you’re actually finishing yours off before the rest of us even start to sip our drinks.” Shatter says, and she scowls.

“Shatter, what is this about?” Shard asks.

“What do you mean ‘what is this about’?” Shatter asks.

“She means,” Forrester butts in, “Why are you really making us do this?”

“So we could have a day out.” Shatter says, shrugging. “Seven friends having a good time.”

“Yeah right.” Shard says, sighing and shaking her head. “There’s something going on, isn’t there?” she asks.

Shatter’s face momentarily shifts to one of faint sorrow, but corrects itself immediately. “Nothing’s going on.” he says. “I just thought it would be nice for us to have one last hurrah.”

“Well, you’re acting awfully recklessly about it.” Shard says.

“Yeah, what happens if one of us gets captured?” Shadow asks.

“I wouldn’t mind if you got captured.” Shatter mutters, barely audibly.

“Look, because of you, we’re out and about.” Shard says. “And somebody is chasing us.”

“The U.S, most likely.” Forrester says.

“Well, guess what?” Shatter asks. “I’m not the one who agreed to come, am I?”

Shade sighs. “We came because you put the idea in our heads, Shatter.” he says.

Shatter licks his lips and drums his fingers on the table as Shard speaks. “Say we get captured, yeah? Have you got a plan for that?”

“We can handle it.” Shatter says. “Besides, if we can’t, dad will come save us.”

“Oh sure, that won’t cause numerous problems in the foreseeable future.” Shard says. “Fuck, you know he gets reckless. Who knows what he’ll do.” she sighs. “I have a question for you, Shatter. Several, actually.”

“Fire away.” Shatter says.

“Did you know?” Shard asks.

“Did I know what?” Shatter asks.

“Let’s look at everyone here.” Shard says, looking around the table. “I’m obviously concerned about the threat. Shackle has his head in the clouds-”

“I always do.” Shackle cuts in, “Right?”

“Right, so he doesn’t count.” Shard says. “Sharpen looks like he’s ready for a fight, Shadow looks concerned, Shade is worried, Forrester is in protective mode if I’m reading his body language correctly-”

“Yep.” Forrester says.

“-But you…” Shard trails off. “Seem at ease. What’s going on?”

“Nothing’s going on.” Shatter says. “I’m just ignoring the problem. As long as we stay the course, we’ll be fine.”

Shard sighs and rubs her forehead. “It is  _ pointless _ arguing with you sometimes.”

As the others keep talking, Shade disengages from the conversation, leaning back and whispering to Forrester. “I feel like something’s wrong with him…” he says.

“I feel the same way.” Forrester says. “But… differently.”

“He’s too emotive.” Shade says.

“He’s too calm.” Forrester adds. “He knows something that we don’t. Either he knows those agents were going to show up, or he’s with them.”

“That’s a pretty big leap to make.” Shade says.

“I wouldn’t be so sure.” Forrester says. “It’s a craaazy world.”

“I’m kind of freaked out.” Shade says. “We’re being chased by agents, we’re stuck in this town, and who knows what could happen.”

“Wait a minute.” Forrester pauses. “Don’t we have…”

“Don’t we what?” Shade asks.

“Teleportation?” Forrester says. “Funny though, I don’t feel like it would work. Like…” he pauses.

“Forrester?” Shade asks. “Hey.”

“Shit.” Forrester whispers, then stands suddenly, his chair scraping on the wooden floor as it moves backwards, and the other five turn to look at him. “I…” Forrester pauses. “Excuse me a minute.” he grabs his drink, finishes it, and then walks off to the bathroom.

“What was that all about?” Shatter wonders.

“I dunno, he just…” Shade shrugs.

Two minutes later, Forrester reappears and slams his phone on the table. “No signal.” he says. “We’re cut off. Either A, the network’s jammed, or B…” he trails off. “Something is magically preventing the connection from going through.”

“That’s…” Shatter says, “That is a very odd thing to jump to.”

“Well, you wouldn’t happen to know anything about it, would you?” Forrester asks.

“Boys, I think we should get a move on.” Shard says, looking at the clock on the wall. “It’s 2:45 already.” Forrester tenses.

“ _ What? _ ” he asks, looking up at the clock. “It was 2:16 when we got in.”

“No it wasn’t.” Shatter says. “It was 2:37.”

Forrester pauses for a moment, but opts to say “Right. I was wrong.” instead of arguing.

“Yeah.” Shatter says as he stands, eyes level with Forrester’s. “You were wrong.” Forrester narrows his eyes as Shatter adds “Let’s roll. We’ve still got 14 pubs left.”

“It  _ was _ 2:16.” Forrester mutters to Shade.

“No, it wasn’t.” Shade says.

Forrester doesn’t respond. As the others leave, he spares one last glance at the clock on the wall reading 2:46, and mutters “ _ What the fuck? _ ” before he leaves.

**3:04 PM**

**20 Hours Before the Incident**

The seventh pub,  _ The Darkest Pit _ , has a dark well painted on the sign, and the six others file inside as Forrester trails behind them, staring at the two men in black slowly walking towards the bar. The sky is a dark grey now, and storm clouds are creeping in.

“Come on, Forrester.” Shatter says. “It can’t start without you.”

“What?” Forrester asks, disguising his suspicion as absentmindedness.

“Drink getting to you already?” Shatter asks. “I said, we can’t start without you.”

“Right.” Forrester says, and follows Shatter inside.

“Forrester, are you sure you’re alright?” Shade asks as they sit around the table at the back of the establishment. “You look a little but off.”

“I’m fine.” Forrester says. “Just thinking.”

“About what?” Shade asks.

“About Shatter.” Forrester responds.

“What about me?” Shatter asks, perking off.

“Just thinking about you.” Forrester says.

“Concerned?” Shatter asks.

“Depends.” Forrester says.

“Speaking of concerned…” Shatter pauses. “Shard, could I please talk to you?” he asks in an almost tiresome tone.

“It better be good.” Shard says, and he stands and shuffles over near the bathrooms, heading into the disableds, where she follows him.

“Man, we need to think of something lighter.” Shadow says. “Get some talk in.”

“Shall we revisit the sexuality crisis?” Sharpen suggests.

“The what?” Forrester asks.

“Oh, here, I can say.” Shackle says.

“Fire away.” Shade says.

“Ok, so, one afternoon we all sat down and tried to figure out what our sexualities were.” Shackle says. “I can’t really remember why.” he pauses. “Or much of it, actually, I was high.”

“He was fucking wasted.” Sharpen says. “He just kind of sat there.”

“How old were you?” Forrester asks.

“16.” Shackle says.

“How did you even get access to drugs?” Forrester asks.

“Oh, I didn’t.” Shackle says. “I found a loophole of sorts, a bug in my coding. Turns out if I stimulate the spot between my eyes by holding my finger to it for five minutes straight, I get high. It was weird.”

“Uh, how did you find that out?” Forrester asks.

“I can’t remember.” Shackle says.

“Does that still happen, Shackle?” Shade asks.

“Oh yeah, it never stopped.” Shackle says. “But we’ve digressed. One morning, we all sat down and tried to figure out what our sexualities were. And I can’t remember it.”

“Here, I can fill this one in.” Sharpen says. “Long story short, we’re all pan.”

“Huh.” Forrester says. “Sounds like an interesting afternoon, just chatting and figuring yourselves out.”

“Yeah, it was chill.” Sharpen says. There’s a pause.

“Is it…” Shadow pauses. “Is it okay if I say something serious? Personal?”

“Sure, Shadow.” Shade says. “You can say anything.”

“You can say whatever you need, man.” Sharpen says.

“Okay.” Shadow nods. “It’s about-”

He cuts himself off as he looks over and sees Shard and Shatter walking out of the disableds, Shard with a vaguely horrified expression on her face with a comforting hand on his shoulder, and Shatter is adjusting his sweater sleeve. She puts on a smile, and he puts on a weaker one.

“Right.” Shatter says. “What’s going on?”

“Uh, Shadow just wanted to-” Shade starts to say, but Shadow cuts him off.

“No, it doesn’t matter.” Shadow says.

“What?” Sharpen asks. “You made it sound important.”

“No, it’s nothing.” Shadow says. “I just don’t feel like… sharing.”

“Don’t feel like sharing what?” Shatter asks.

“It’s none of your business.” Shadow asks in a slightly agitated tone.

Shackle puts a hand on his shoulder. “If you don’t wanna talk about it, then don’t.”

There’s a pause before Shatter says “Well, you boys look finished here. Shall we?” he gestures to the door and sets off without waiting for a response. Shard follows closely behind him, and the others finish their drinks and go after the two of them.

**4:02 PM**

**19 Hours Before the Incident**

It has started to rain by the time they can see their next pub at the end of the block, and then it’s pouring by the time they reach it. The sign on the side of the large building has a pulsing green object wrapped in chains, with the name beneath it reading  _ The Chained Sun _ . They push inside and shake themselves off. Shard stares around as they move into the main area.

“Hold on a minute…” she says. “Isn’t this a nightclub?”

“Looks like one, yeah.” Forrester says.

“Oh no, they have more of these now.” Shackle says. “They have weird hours, but usually they operate during the day. I can’t remember what they call them.”

The large interior is packed with people, lights glaring and music blaring. There’s a green theme to everything, fog creeping across the floor from smoke machines, viridescent because of the shining emerald lights.

“This place is beautiful.” Shackle says. “So pretty.”

“Right then, let’s get our drinks.” Shatter says.

Soon, the seven of them are sitting at the bar, Shard sticking especially close to Shatter and keeping an eye on his body language. Everyone has to half-shout to be heard.

“This place is loud.” Sharpen says.

“And bright. I love it!” Shackle says.

“Yeah, well, I don’t.” Sharpen says.

“So what’d you and Shard talk about, Shatter?” Shade asks.

“Oh, just…” Shatter trails off and sighs. “It doesn’t matter. It’s personal.”

“I wonder why this nightclub still exists.” Forrester says. “Or whatever it is.”

“Why do you wonder?” Shadow asks.

“Because I would think they would have run out of customers now.” Forrester says. “In 2020, people cared less about nightclubs. Like, a lot less.”

“Why do you keep speaking things in 2020?” Sharpen asks.

“Because that’s where my world was before it all went to shit in ‘21.” Forrester says. He pauses, steals a glance at Shatter.

“Well, clearly people still like them.” Shadow says.

“I love it.” Shackle says.

“Shackle’s certainly right when he said it was pretty.” Shatter says.

“Really?” Sharpen asks. “I can barely look because all I can see is strobe.”

“Hey, Shard, can we get shots?” Shatter asks, hesitantly.

“I…” Shard pauses. “Go ahead, I’m not your mother.”

He stands and saunters away from the group.

“Surprised you didn’t stop him.” Shade says.

“He could use a bit of a boost.” Shard says.

“What kind of boost?” Shade asks. “Thought you didn’t like this, now you want him to keep going? Drink more?”

“That was before.” Shard says.

“Before what?” Sharpen asks.

“Before.” is Shard’s only word in response.

“You know,” Shadow says, breaking the silence, “He hasn’t once said anything rude to me ever since whatever happened in there.”

Forrester stands and turns to Shade. “Shade, I need to talk to you again.”

“What? What is it?” Shade asks, and Forrester gestures for him to follow him over to the end of the bar as Shatter returns with shot glasses.

“He told her something, and now she’s on his side.” Forrester says.

“What?” Shade asks. “What are you talking about?”

“He’s playing them.” Forrester says. “It’s like I said earlier. He’s flattered Shackle, insulted Shadow, challenged Sharpen, and now done something to Shard that’s brought her over. He’s got all of them under his thumb, and he’s probably going to move onto you.”

“That’s bullshit.” Shade says. “He’s not doing anything.”

“Oh really?” Forrester asks. “Then what is that pressing on the back of your skull?”

The lights and sound fade away as the realization hits Shade.

“What the fuck is he doing?” Shade asks.

“Trying to get into your head.” Forrester says. They turn back to look at the others as they finish their shot glasses and Shackle walks off alone towards the exit.

“Hold on, where’s Shackle going?” Forrester asks as he hurries up to the bar.

“He’s cashing in early.” Shatter says. “We should get going too.”

With that, Shatter stands upon finishing his drink, and the others follow.

By the time they get outside, the pouring rain has slowed to a light rain. Shackle is walking away and the agents seem to be paying him no mind whatsoever.

“What the fuck?” Forrester wonders aloud.

“They aren’t going after him.” Shade says in confusion. “What?”

“Stick close man.” Forrester says, and takes Shade’s hand, following the other four as Shackle disappears around the corner. “He got Shackle.” Forrester says as they walk. “It’s just like before. It’s just like Tyranny.”

“Tyranny?” Shade asks.

“You don’t want to know.” Forrester says. “Let’s just go.”

Forrester doesn’t check the clock tower as they pass it, but if he did see it he would most likely have some words to say.

The time is currently 6:33 PM, a full two and a half hours since they arrived in  _ The Chained Sun _ .

Something, or someone is cutting time.

Shackle disappears around a corner and starts walking home.

The two agents continue to calmly walk after the remaining six friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh oh, time is skipping. Wonder what that means.  
> "It all went to shit in '21" sorry not sorry. Here come the robots!  
> The agents left Shackle, which means they don't want him. So who do they want?  
> Shatter's doing something nasty. This isn't a pub crawl anymore. This is a fight for control.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The present.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back to our regularly scheduled program. That black is starting to get more unnerving, I gotta say.

ENTITY FILE, CODENAME “CONTROLLER”

**Item #:** Ω-4

**Object Class:** ████████

**Special Containment Procedures:** █████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

**Description:** █████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

* * *

Shatter, Shard, and Shackle step into a timeline. The world they enter has no gods left, it's Earth C home to only Harry Anderson Egbert, the only survivor of Shade’s subconscious’ wrath. The three of them walk forwards through the black and freezing cave, golden light emanating from Shackle’s palm, lighting up the darkness. They banish away the old runes and magical defenses, soon finding their target. Shadow is floating in the air, encased in a ring of silver energy. He seems to have chosen a form with dark black hair wearing a blue sweater and dark grey pants. His eyes are closed, and he seems at peace. Sigils dance through the air around him, their colours shifting every second. Shatter narrows his eyes. There’s someone else in front of Shadow’s prison, just sitting there.

“Hello Shatter.” Shade says in a vaguely passive-aggressive manner.

“Hello Shade.” Shatter responds, snarling a little. “Not particularly surprised to see you here. I also see that your plotline leak has been patched.”

“What’s your plan?” Shade asks.

“What, you really want me to tell you?” Shatter chuckles. “As much fun as I had with that when I butchered this planet’s gods, this is of more cosmic significance.” he says before following it up with “You know what I hate about your powers?” he asks, and then immediately answers his own questions. “Your plotline duplication. You can take any scene from  _ anything _ and stick it wherever you want, but it fundamentally robs the scene of its meaning.”

Shade shakes his head. “You’re wrong,” he says. “Because those duplicated scenes can have new meanings. They’re given new meaning when they’re placed in a new context.”

“Bullshit.” Shatter says.

“Nope.” Shade says. “Take it from me, the plotline guy.”

“So then, where’s your pal Forrester?” Shatter asks.

“He should be on his way.” Shade says. There’s a pause before he adds “Well then, shall we move this along?”

Shade fires the first blast of energy and sends the three of them flying backwards. Shatter comes back around immediately and slams Shade into the far wall.

“Goodness, I don’t have time for you.” Shatter says. He walks up to Shadow’s cell and speaks. “Dream, Broken, Six, Day, Forge, Twelve, Warmth, Advent, Ten, Burned.”

Shadow’s prison falls away and he falls to the ground. Shatter helps him to his feet as he opens his eyes, which are black for a moment but soon turn green.

“Get up.” Shatter says. “Let’s just get out of here.”

Shade comes back around, but Shatter sonic blasts him backwards again, and the four vanish as Shade stumbles to his feet.

“Ah, fuck.” he says, and instantly teleports away to the last timeline, where Forrester is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This sure is going great, ain't it?


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back in the past.

**6:48 PM**

**17 Hours Before the Incident**

The next place the group finds themselves at as the sun begins to set, turning the horizon a blood red, is  _ The Wolf _ , which fittingly has a drawing of a wolf on the sign. The two agents are still following the six of them as they duck into the next bar. They get their drinks and sit down quickly near the back.

“The farther into this we go, the closer they get.” Sharpen hisses. “Those agents.”

“Then we better start moving faster.” Shatter says.

“I’m still wondering why Shackle left.” Forrester says.

“Because, he wanted to cash in for the night.” Shatter says.

“While we’re being chased by agents.” Forrester says.

“Well, they let him go, didn’t they?” Shatter asks.

“Exactly.” Forrester says.

“Maybe they aren’t after us.” Shatter says. “Maybe they’re looking for you.”

Forrester pauses, considers the idea. “You could be right about that.”

“Yeah, either way, I figure we just keep going.” Shatter says.

“Maybe they don’t want me, or most of you, maybe they just want Shade.” Forrester suggests. Shade opts to ignore that idea by looking the other way and out the window, generally ignoring this conversation. The agents are staring directly at him, so he sighs and looks away.

“I don’t really like conversations about the nature of my free will.” Shade says, and Shatter dramatically clears his throat for no particular reason.

“I would really like to get this over with.” Shard says. “Although… more out of desire to just get back home in one piece. Shatter… I know this means quite a bit to you…”

“Mhm.” Shatter says.

“But we should just get this over with.” Shard says.

“M’kay.” Shatter says. With that, he finishes his drink and stands. “Right. No time to waste. Just gotta move on. Get going. Get on the road.”

“You still haven’t answered my question about Shackle.” Forrester says.

“Well, it wasn’t a question, and I technically already answered it.” Shatter says.

“For fuck’s.” Forrester shakes his head.

**6:56 PM**

**17 Hours Before the Incident**

“Show me the way to the next whiskey bar…” Shatter sings quietly as they reach the next bar that is literally around the corner,  _ The Scarlet Lovers _ , with a sign painting depicting a red heart with a crossed sickle and sword across it. This one is fairly small too, but they pile in, grab their drinks, each swig the entire pint in a single gulp, and then move on to the next pub.

“Ten down, ten to go.” Shatter says as they walk out. “We’re halfway there.”

“Joy.” Shadow says.

“Oh, can it.” Shatter says, and Shadow sighs.

“Back to that then.” Shadow mutters.

**7:16 PM**

**16 Hours Before the Incident**

The six of them duck into  _ The Rogue _ , the eleventh pub with a sign showing a violet eye surrounded by dark blue. They grab their drinks and seat themselves near the door. Shatter pulls out a stick of celery from seemingly nowhere and loudly bites part of it off.

“Where did you get that?” Shadow asks.

“None of your business.” Shatter says.

“Where on Earth did you get that?” Shard asks.

“I produced it from thin air.” Shatter says. “I was hungry, so I created celery.”

“Oh god, that’s rich.” Sharpen snorts. “I need that on a shirt; I was hungry, so I created celery.”

“I wonder if god said that.” Shadow sarcastically adds. Sharpen chuckles.

“Why celery?” Shard asks. “Of all things?”

“Because.” Shatter says. “It’s celery.” he takes another loud bite.

“It does taste good.” Forrester says. “Then again… I ate a lot of it.”

“And why’s that?” Shatter asks.

“Because we grew a lot of it on a farm.” Forrester says. “Mainly in our backyard away from all the other stuff. My mom really liked it, and then I liked it.”

“Did we just shoehorn our way into expository dialogue?” Shard asks.

“Yes, we did.” Forrester says.

“Great.” Shard says.

“What was your life like, though?” Shade asks. “I don’t think I’ve ever asked you that.”

“Well…” Forrester starts to say, briefly pausing when Shatter takes another chomp out of the celery stick. “I grew up on a farm up in Ontario.”

“You’re Canadian?” Sharpen asks.

“Course I am.” Forrester says. “Thought you could tell from the accent.”

“Thought you were american.” Sharpen says.

“Well, John and Jane were from Canada, and they had the same accent.” Forrester says. “Anyway, I grew up on a farm in Ontario. It was nice, I liked the countryside. I was 16 when the Mike invasion hit Europe. Wasn’t long before it hit home too. Shame.”

“Mike?” Shadow asks as Shatter takes another bite.

“It’s military slang, idiot.” Shatter says. “Mechanical Singularity. Mike Sierra.”

“Well, I wasn’t aware it was military slang that he meant.” Shadow mutters.

“We should move things along.” Shatter says as he takes another bite from his celery stick. “We’ve still got nine more to go.”

“Great.” Shadow says. “Nine more pubs for you to insult me.”

“Am I insulting you?” Shatter asks.

“Yes!” Shadow says, and sighs. “You know what?” he asks. “Fuck you.”

“Fuck you.” Shatter says. “You’re always talking, just shut up.”

“Hey, you know what?” Shadow says, and starts to stand up, and raise his fist, but Shard shoots to her feet first and gets between the two of them.

“Ok, how about we move on?” Shard suggests, “And you two just… stay apart.”

Shadow snarls a little bit as Shatter looks him dead in the eyes and finishes off his celery, before heading out first with Sharpen following him.

“Just try and ignore him, man.” Shade says, putting a hand on his brother’s shoulder.

“Fuck him.” Shadow hisses.

Shard stands between Shadow and Shatter as they go outside, Shade and Forrester trailing behind them.

“That’s not looking good.” Shade says. “What do you think we should do?”

“Let Shard deal with it.” Forrester says. “You know I’m no mitigator. I-” he pauses.

“What?” Shade asks as Forrester stares behind them. “What is it?”

“There are  _ three _ of them.” Forrester says.

Shade looks back, and there are now three men in black instead of two.

“Oh, fuck.” Shade says. “What should we do?”

“Keep on.” Forrester says.

“Question?” Shade asks. “How are you sober?”

“Magic powers granting me alcohol immunity.” Forrester responds. “I’d rather not get into the nitty gritty, it is irrelevant to our current situation.”

The two of them hurry along to catch up with the rest of the group, not realizing that the time is now 10:32 PM and the sun has long since set.

**10:38 PM**

**13 Hours Before the Incident**

“I’m getting shots.” Shatter says as soon as they walk inside their next bar,  _ The Widow _ , which has a jade green coloured broken heart.

“Can’t believe we’re not doing quarters.” Sharpen says.

“Well, too bad for you.” Shatter says. “The rest of you hurry along, I’ll get the shots.”

As the other five of them sit down at the far end of the taproom with their drinks, Shadow sighs loudly. “God, I hate him.”

“I know you do.” Shard says. “And I’m sorry that I haven’t done much to help.”

“I just…” Shadow sighs. “This is what I wanted to talk about earlier.” he checks to see where Shatter is at with the shots, then starts speaking in a hushed voice, silencing everyone else. As he speaks, they stare at the table, taking in his words. “It’s not that he’s verbally bullied me since our inception. Or that once when we were 15, his abuse hurt me so much, I considered stepping off the cliff out back of the house. It’s not even that he’s left me with permanent self esteem issues. No, it’s the fact that just then… he didn’t know he was hurting me. Like it was some game to him. Like it all meant nothing. And that knowledge makes everything he’s said worse.”

Shatter slams down the tray with six shot glasses on the table. “Brought the shots.” he says loudly. “What’s everyone looking so downcast for?” he asks. “Did somebody die?”

“Yeah, I think you could say that.” Shadow mutters.

“Shatter, what the fuck are you doing?” Shard asks.

“Bringing shots. You’re the one who let me in the first place.” Shatter says.

“Look, I get it.” Shard says. “You’re feeling down, so you’re cheering yourself up with this. However, Shadow was talking about something very personal and serious, something that you have caused.”

“And what would that be?” Shatter asks absentmindedly.

“Your constant verbal abuse.” Shard says.

“It’s alright, Shard.” Shadow starts to say, but she cuts him off.

“No Shadow, it is definitely  _ not _ alright.” Shard says. “Between mom not being around most of the time and dad being busy, we’ve always had to take care of each other, and right now I’m drawing a line in the sand as our sister. Don’t say another word to him.”

“Or what?” Shatter asks.

“Just stop it.” Shard says. “You’re hurting him, and I’ve had enough.”

“Alrighto.” Shatter says.

“Fuck it, I need a piss.” Forrester says, standing and walking towards the bathrooms.

“Frankly though, why haven’t you lot done anything about it, huh?” Shatter asks, and they go quiet. “Exactly. You’re complicit.”

“Shatter, there’s a difference between being a bystander and being the cause.” Shade says.

“Well, you all should have done something.” Shatter says. “And it’s not like I knew I was hurting him. If I did, I would have stopped.”

Shard puts a hand on Shadow’s knee and shakes her head as he nearly jumps up, presumably to punch Shatter. “That’s not helping, Shatter.” Shard says through gritted teeth.

“Shade, I need you to come look at this.” Forrester says as he suddenly runs up to them.

“What?” Shade asks. “What is it?”

“The bathrooms. Come. Look.” Forrester says, dragging Shade along with him into the bathrooms. He gestures to a cracked tile on the wall when they get inside. “What does that look like to you?” he asks.

“A cracked tile.” Shade says. “I don’t know what you’re trying to get me to see.”

“Look at the shape.” Forrester says. As Shade squints and stares at it, Forrester asks “Are you sure you’re not duplicating?”

“No.” Shade says as he pulls back. “But that’s the same shape, why…?”

“I don’t like this.” Forrester says. “Just stick close, alright man?”

“That’s what I’ve been doing.” Shade says.

“Good, please stay that way.” Forrester says. “I’m worried. I figure it’s a good idea we stick close together, keep an eye on one another.”

“Yeah, let’s just get out of here and get this over with.” Shade says.

They exit and join the others, who seem to be finishing their drinks. Forrester keeps a close eye on Shatter as they finish up their shots and pints. With that, the group continues on, Shatter leading the charge and Forrester bringing up the rear whilst keeping an eye on the three agents chasing them. He notices that the time has now changed to 12:07 AM, noting that someone-most definitely Shatter-is cutting the time. He hurries after the rest of them, sticking especially close to Shade and steeling himself for anyone possible conflict.

Eight pubs to go, he thinks. Only eight left, and then they can get out of this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Show me the way to the next whiskey bar" is a lyric from Alabama Song. My favourite is the one by the Doors. Great stuff.  
> I was hungry so I created celery. Somebody put that on a shirt.  
> Forrester is Canadian, and so are the John and Jane!  
> Aaaand there are three men in black.  
> Poor Shadow. He's a mental wreck.  
> Plotline duplication: Copying breaks in bathroom tiles from movies since 2100.  
> Eight to go.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The present.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we're back.

ENTITY FILE, CODENAME “DEFYER”

**Item #:** Ω-2

**Object Class:** ████████

**Special Containment Procedures:** █████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

**Description:** █████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

* * *

Shade materializes in a cave twelve miles below the surface of Earth C, one that is freezing cold. Forrester is in some kind of magic battle with Shatter, while Shadow, Shard, and Shackle are off to the side. Shatter manages to catch Forrester off guard for a moment and hits him with a burst of energy that sends him flying backwards.

“Fuck!” Forrester shouts right before he slams into the cavern wall and tumbles to the ground.

“Forrester!” Shade shouts, and Shatter turns to look him in the eye.

“Back so soon, brother?” Shatter asks. “Didn’t expect that, honestly.” he pauses, but Shade gives no reaction. “I’m kidding, of course, you knew I’d go right on to get the last one of us.”

“Fuck you.” Shade says. He raises his hands and starts to prepare an attack, but is once again knocked straight backwards by Shatter with a massive concussive burst of power.

“Goodness, so livid.” Shatter says in annoyance before he leads his siblings onwards to where Sharpen is being kept, hovering in a ring of silver energy. He’s got black hair and is in some kind of fancy brown suit. His eyes are closed, but he seems annoyed about something. Sigils dance through the air around him, their colours shifting every second. Shatter opens his mouth and begins to speak.

“Burning, Rotted, Ten, Night, Incinerator, Twenty Five, Tender, Return, Ten, Destroyed.”

The enchantments surrounding Sharpen break and he falls to the ground, groaning as he stumbles to his feet, his eyes fading from pure black to blue. “Oh, thank god,” he says as he stumbles to his feet, cracking his neck. “I was wondering when you were going to get me out.”

“Why are you wearing a suit?” Shard asks.

“I like it, it makes me look good.” Sharpen says.   
“It totally doesn’t.” Shackle says.

Sharpen throws his hands in the air, and then asks “Why is Shackle the only one who chose to go blonde?” he says, pointing at his brother.

“Is that to suggest there should be more blondes?” Shard asks.

“Well, it’s… the rest of us are dark haired, and he’s… blonde.” Sharpen shrugs. “Pattern break.”

“Yeah, well it’s my hair.” Shackle says. “I chose it.”

“I should hope.” Sharpen says.

“We don’t have time for this.” Shatter says. “We gotta go.”

He opens a portal beneath Sharpen and he falls in with a yelp. He jumps in after him, and Shard follows. The other two look around, and Shadow suddenly gets knocked aside with a burst of energy as Forrester struggles to his feet. Shackle whips a burst of green flame at Forrester, knocking him backwards against the wall, then hauls Shadow back and drops him in before jumping in himself. Shade struggles to his feet and goes over to help Forrester.

“One hit, one fucking hit, and he gets me down.” Forrester hisses. “God-ammit.”

“You did your best.” Shade says. “We’ll just have to catch him. Come on.”

“I still got his signature.” Forrester says.

“Well, I figured you did.” Shade says. “I have it as well.”

“We better follow him before he does something particularly nasty.” Forrester says.

They vanish in a blink of light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that sure went well, didn't it? At least they know where he's going.  
> Also, be blonde if you like, Shackle. And if you were imagining him without blonde hair before... he's blonde now.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are, back in the past. 12 down, 8 to go.

**12:15 AM**

**11 Hours Before the Incident**

_ The Old Kingdom _ rather unsurprisingly has a castle painted on it sign, although the group isn’t paying attention to the sign all that much. They just duck inside and grab their drinks, seating themselves at the back of the pub as per usual.

“Mmm.” Shatter says. “This has been a nice night.”

“A rather paranoid night.” Forrester says.

“So what?” Shatter asks. “We’re safe, aren’t we?”

“We’re operating with the illusion of safety.” Shard says. “Don’t know about that.”

“Say, Shade, how are you with dad’s guitar?” Shatter suddenly asks after a pause.

“What?” Shade asks. “Where’s this coming from?”

“I’m making small talk to break up the tension.” Shatter says.

“I’m just fine with it.” Shade says.

“Any songs you like to play?” Shatter asks.

“Anything by  _ Pink Floyd _ or  _ The Doors _ .” Shade says.

“60s and 70s with a side of 80s, huh?” Shatter asks. “Nice.”

“Mom doesn’t like when you play songs by  _ The Doors _ .” Sharpen says.

“No, she only pretends not to.” Shard says. “Trust me.”

“But you only use dad’s guitar, don’t you?” Shatter asks.

“Of course.” Shade says. “It’s basically mine at this point, given that I’m pretty sure he’s got like six of the things. Hasn’t formally given it to me yet.”

“Well, he should.” Shatter says. “You play well.”

“Thanks.” Shade says.

“You should hear him when he soundproofs the room so only people in it can hear.” Forrester says. “You’re still a bit embarrassed to actually play in the open.” he pats Shade on the shoulder, and Shade shrugs.

“Yeah, I guess I am. I’m a bit sensitive about it.” Shade says.

“Nothing wrong with that.” Forrester says.

“I’ve never really gotten why people would play music for a living.” Sharpen suddenly says.

“What?” Shade asks. “Come on, man. Music is good.”

“Yeah, I know it is.” Sharpen says. “But…”

“But?” Shatter asks. “But what?”

“I don’t know, I just have weird feelings about music.” Sharpen says.

“Yeah, and the only song you like is Slippery Rock 70s.” Shatter says.

“Hey, come on.” Sharpen says. “Stavely Makepeace are musical geniuses.”

“I thought you were just saying that you didn’t understand why people would do music for a living.” Shatter says.

“That’s… different.” Sharpen says.

“Not very different, innit?” Shatter asks.

“God, I hate you.” Sharpen says, chuckling.

“No you don’t.” Shatter says. “Anyway, shall we keep on?”

“Keep on?” Shadow questions.

“It’s-” Shatter pauses, keeping an eye on Shard’s watchful glare. “It’s a figure of speech.”

“I know, but why ‘keep on’?” Shadow asks.

“I don’t know.” Shatter shrugs. “I just went with it. Anyway, shall we get on?”

**12:48 AM**

**11 Hours Before the Incident**

Shatter’s humming some songs as they come up on the fourteenth pub,  _ The Vengeful Axe _ , which has an axe wreathed in flames painted on the sign. They enter, get their drinks, and take a seat. It’s then that Forrester decides to make his move.

“Shatter,” Forrester asks, “Could I have a chat?”

“What about?” Shatter asks.

“Not here.” Forrester says.

“Ooh, discreet about these things, aren’t we?” Shatter asks, and follows Forrester over to the corner of the taproom.

“What did you show Shard?” Forrester asks.

“You really want to know?” Shatter asks in a somber voice.

“Yes.” Forrester says.

So, Shatter rolls up his sleeves to reveal scars on his arms. “Satisfied?” Shatter asks.

“Mmm.” Forrester says. “I don’t know about that. Because I know you. And you are  _ far _ from suicidal. And if you did actually try that, it would set off alarms.”

“No it wouldn’t.” Shatter says.

“Yes it would.” Forrester says. “You know why?” he asks.

“Why?” Shatter asks absentmindedly.

“Because one time you hurt Shadow so badly he walked up to the edge of the cliff out back of the house and set off his alarms.” Forrester says. “We talked him down, fixed him up, and gave you a talking to.” he looks over at Shadow, who’s glaring at them. “And since this is a more direct approach to… that… then that means that these weren’t inflicted, you generated them.”

“Sneaky, isn’t he?” Shatter asks.

“No.” Forrester says. “Just caring. And I care about your siblings, even if you don’t.”

“Hmm.” Shatter says. “So, what? What’s this about?”

“Well, let’s see.” Forrester says. “You’ve started engaging Shade in friendly conversation, and for the last few hours you’ve bullied Shadow, flattered Shackle, challenged Sharpen, and you’ve emotionally manipulated Shard. This isn’t a pub crawl. This is an invasion of minds.”

“Hmm, he’s got it.” Shatter says. “So, what are you going to do about it?”

“I don’t know.” Forrester says. “I’ll report it, keep an eye on you, and then move on.”

“If you tell them what I’m doing, I’ll tell them what you’re doing.” Shatter says.

“ _ What? _ ” Forrester asks in a dark voice.

“I know what you’re planning.” Shatter says. “You and Shade. You tell them, I’ll tell them. Then we’ll both be in for it. But you’ll get it worse.”

“How do I know you won’t do it anyway?” Forrester asks.

“Because if I do that, then you’ll have no choice but to tell them.” Shatter says. “This isn’t a situation where one of us can rat out the other and not get ratted out on our nefarious deeds.”

“I’m doing the right thing.” Forrester says.

“Are you?” Shatter asks. “He’s your oldest friend. And you’re just going to kill him?”

“I’m going to get close to him, and then I’m going to fix him.” Forrester says.

“By which you mean you’re going to kill him. Nice one.” Shatter says. “Neither of us can say anything. I will say though, this little tug of war for your moirail has been quite fun.”

“You leave him alone.” Forrester half-snarls.

“Then why don’t you leave him alone?” Shatter asks. “You’re emotionally manipulating him too, even if you’d never admit it.”

Forrester has no response.

“Yeah, that got you, didn’t it?” Shatter asks. “How about you don’t meddle in my business and I don’t meddle in yours?”

Forrester narrows his eyes. “Fine.” he says.

“Right.” Shatter says, then moves past him, skipping over to the table. “Hope you finished your drinks, ‘cause we’re moving out!” he says. Shadow groans a little.

“God, can’t we still for even a minute?” Shadow asks as they file out.

“No, actually. We can’t.” Shatter says as they pass beneath the leaves of dozens of trees, walking through a park of some sort. “Goodness Shadow, you are so impatient. So needy.”

“Shut up.” Shadow says. “Just… shut up.”

“Why should I?” Shatter asks. “You never seem to.”

“God, do not start.” Shadow says.

“And don’t you start either, brother.” Shatter says. “All you ever do is whinge and complain. You’re insufferable, and frankly some days I’m ashamed that you’re my brother.”

Shadow’s response to this is to punch Shatter across the jaw. Granted, it is not a not a fairly strong punch, but it does send him stumbling nonetheless. Then, Shadow headbutts him and shoves him to the ground, placing his knee on his brother’s chest and punching him in the face over and over. He does not bleed, but it definitely seems to hurt.

“I HATE YOU!” Shadow shouts. “YOU FUCKING BASTARD! I HATE YOU!”

“Shadow, stop!” Shard shouts, but surprisingly makes no move to actually stop him.

“FUCK YOU!” Shadow shouts again, raising his leg to kick Shatter in the face before going back to pummeling him. “FUCK YOU!”

“I think he should do it.” Sharpen says. “Cathartic release, you know.” next to him, Shade is staring in silent shock and Forrester is staring completely apathetically.

“I AM SO SICK OF YOU!” Shadow shouts. “ALWAYS HURTING ME! NO MORE!” he pauses his beating just to scream in Shatter’s face. “NO MORE!” he goes back to pummeling him, and that’s when Shard snaps out of it and runs over to him, hauling him off.

“FUCK YOU!” Shadow shouts with a scratchy voice as Shard pulls him away. “Fuck you…!” he chokes out, tears starting to stream from his eyes, and as Shard hugs him he cries the way a young child would, loud sobs erupting from his lungs and tears streaming down his face.

“Ssh, ssh ssh ssh…” Shard whispers and rocks him back and forth as he cries. Shatter remains on the ground, staring up at the sky, actually smiling. “It’s ok, it’s ok…”

“Didn’t know you had that in you.” Shatter says, and Shadow nearly lunges at him, stopped only by Shard, who hauls him back.

“Okay, Shadow, I’m taking you home.” Shard says. “Forrester, keep an eye on Shatter for me, I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“Got it.” Forrester says as Shard takes Shadow away, still crying. The agents leave them alone.

‘How about that?” Shatter wonders aloud. “Two. Come on, next one’s just across the park.”

**2:06 AM**

**10 Hours Before the Incident**

Shatter leads Shade, Sharpen, and Forrester into their next pub, the Japanese themed bar  _ The Last Samurai _ with the sign showing a pair of anime shades over a katana. Shatter’s chatting, but Shade, Sharpen, and Forrester filter him out. They’re not thinking about him. They’re thinking about Shadow, and how hurt he must feel. They down their drinks quickly, then they get out.

**3:36 AM**

**8 Hours Before the Incident**

Somehow, it’s half past three when they reach their next bar,  _ The Queen’s Maid _ , the bar sign showing a red trident with a light blue crown bedazzled with diamonds. Shade, Sharpen, and Forrester get their drinks as Shatter decides to mingle with the people here for some reason, although Sharpen stays away from the two of them, seemingly having decided to leave them alone so he can think in peace.

“Bad news.” Forrester says as he drinks. “He knows our plan.”

“What?” Shade asks. “What do we do?”

“Well, good news, he won’t tell.” Forrester says. “Because otherwise he’ll be forced to reveal his own plan.”

“What's his plan?” Shade asks.

“Frankly, I don’t know yet.” Forrester says. “But it can’t be good. He’s planning something.”

“What should we do?” Shade asks.

“I’m not entirely sure.” Forrester says. “Maybe if one of us can get close to him, the other can rat him out while the first person finishes the job.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Shade says.

“Yes it does.” Forrester says.

They’re interrupted by crashing and banging, and they look over to see Shatter in a fight with what looks to be five other teens. He hits one of them with a pool cue and kicks another aside. He’s laughing in elation as he slaps the third away and knees the fourth in the gut.

“Oh my god, he’s started a bar fight.” Forrester says.

“Typical.” Shade says, right before Shatter dives through the front window, smashing it. He runs down the road, laughing his head off as the five teens give chase.

“We should follow him before he does something bad.” Sharpen says as he goes over to them.

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.” Shade says.

The three of them run out the door and chase the teens as they chase Shatter down the road. Four agents follow behind them at a calm slow pace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shade likes _The Doors_ and _Pink Floyd_. Sure that won't pay off somewhere.  
> Aaaand now Shatter and Forrester roughly know each other's plans, placing them in an uneasy truce. I mean, we knew it was coming, but the fact that Shatter knows this suggests that something worse is at work.  
> Shadow finally snapped. It was going to happen eventually. Poor Shadow.  
> Four agents. This night just gets better and better.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The present.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guess where we are? That's right! XX Beta Fucking 12.

Shatter steps into the dark and cold wasteland of XX-Beta-12, the dark sky above lit only by the black hole that has replaced the sun, forcing the Earth to forever orbit its jaws of death. Shard, Shadow, Sharpen, and Shackle follow him.

“So what exactly are we getting?” Shard asks as Shatter produces a small canister about the length of his forearm. It’s a darkly painted tubular object with a top closed off by four metal ‘petals’ that presumably unfold into a flower shape to allow access inside.

“I’m getting it.” Shatter says. “I’m going down there. She put herself there.”

“She?” Sharpen asks. “Who’s she?”

“I’m sure you’ve seen her in your dreams ever since you joined me.” Shatter says. “The Lady of the Void.” he says in a dark voice, then chuckles. “She turned herself into… something… and went and waited at the bottom of this pit. The deepest pit in XX-Beta-12.”

“Great.” Shadow says. “So what do we do?”

“You don’t do anything.” Shatter says. “She’s going to lock herself into this canister and as soon as she does that, I’ll fly back up here. Once I’m back up, we’ll get out of here and move onto the next part of our plan. This should only take five minutes or so.”

He flies down into the pit, and silence settles. “So…” Shackle asks. “Now what?”

Four minutes pass as they sit around and do nothing, but shortly after the four minute mark, Sharpen is suddenly hit with a burst of energy that knocks him backwards and sends him falling into the pit. He’ll fly back up, but the injury will keep him down for longer. The other three spin around to see Forrester and Shade walking over.

“Hello.” Forrester says. “Did I attack too soon?” he asks, then uses a whip of energy to throw Shadow far across the country they’re in when he goes in for the kill. “You take them, I’ll get Shatter.” he says, and Shade nods. At that moment, Shatter rises from the pit, the canister pulsing with something dark inside it. He stashes it in his sylladex.

“Forrester.” he says sweetly. “Hello, hello, hello. You’ve come to stop me.”

“I’ve come to do a little more than just that.” Forrester says. “That canister… you don’t know what you’re dealing with.”

“Of course I know what I’m dealing with.” Shatter spits out. “I told you that night, remember?”

“Well, it’s been a while.” Forrester says. “Try eight years. I don’t really remember it.”

“Oh well.” Shatter shrugs. “Enough talk, let’s do this.”

Forrester attacks first, throwing a bolt of flames that Shatter stops dead in its tracks with his own burst of lightning, two attacks firing forwards into one another, neither of them really winning. Shatter cuts off his attack and dodges to the side to avoid the bolt of flame, which strikes Shard and knocks her back into a tree. Shackle shoots forwards and slams into Shade the two of them shooting into the sky and fighting up there. Shackle isn’t much of a match for his brother, but he’s certainly giving it his all. On the ground, Shatter creates a giant serpent made of golden light. It hisses at Forrester and strikes at him, but he fires twin bursts of darkness that rip holes in it and cause it to fade away before it can get any hits in. It fades away at the same time that Forrester fires a third blast of darkness, which Shatter catches, breaks, and twists into a ball of purple flames, which he throws at Forrester. Forrester hits the violet fireball with a burst of energy, causing it to explode, sending fire rolling back towards Shatter, who snarls and blocks the attack with a shield of sorts.

Shadow comes flying back at the same time Sharpen shoots up from the pit and Shard follows them up to Shade, where the five siblings now face off against him.

“You don’t understand what we’re doing, Shade.” Shard says. “We’re going to destroy the cancer. For good.”

“The placebo side of it, or the real thing?” Shade asks.

“The real thing.” Shard says. “No destruction required.”

“Do you really honestly believe that you’re just going to destroy the cancer, and not anything else?” Shade asks.

Shard’s only response is to attack.

Down below, Forrester catches Shatter in a fire whip that he then ignites into a spinning sphere of flames with Shatter trapped in the middle. He struggles, failing to escape and seeming very angry about the whole thing. He does manage to get out a single attack that breaks Forrester’s concentration long enough for him to escape as the fireball dissipates and fire pure darkness at the man, who catches the attack with a wall of magical glass, which he forces towards Shatter, who breaks the wall and turns it into a miniature black hole of sorts, slowly building up power. Forrester tries to shoot a bolt of orange lightning, but Shatter just dodges it, whereupon he detonates the black hole thing and sends a giant burst of energy powerful enough to knock everyone off their feet.

Pointing upwards, he teleports Shard away with a snap of his fingers. “We’re leaving!” he shouts. “We got what we came for, not let’s get out of here!” he zaps away Shadow and Sharpen as well. Shackle tries to stick around for one last attack on his brother, but he vanishes as well. Shade gets one last look at a smiling Shatter right before he disappears.

“Shit,” Shade says as he goes over to Forrester, who’s stumbling to his feet, “He got away.”

“I’ve lost his signature too.” Forrester says.

“What?” Shade asks. “How can that be?”

“Whatever he’s got with him, it’s masking him.” Forrester says.

“He said it was The Lady of the Void.” Shade says. “You really think he was telling the truth?”

“I don’t know.” Forrester says. “But if there’s one thing that I remember from that night, it’s that he’s definitely with her, and it’s not going to end well. Whatever he’s got planned… it is going to be a shitshow, I know that.”

“Come on.” Shade says. “Let’s get back home and see if we can pick up his signal again.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Forrester says.

They teleport away, and XX-Beta-12 falls silent, every one of its magical pits empty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Lady of The Void is now in a canister.  
> Magic fight. How creative can I be?  
> And with that, Shatter's gone. So much for catching him.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end of the crawl.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The penultimate flashback.

**4:56 AM**

**6 Hours Before the Incident**

Shard passes underneath the sign and its painting of a tree in flames, entering the bar known as  _ The Burning Forest _ . It’s more of a smokehouse, in her opinion. The windows are shuttered, smoke drifts through the air, and the place is surprisingly quiet. Shatter, Shade, Sharpen, and Forrester are the only people in the bar besides her and the publican, who seems half-asleep.

“Was wondering if I’d find you here.” Shard says as she slouches down next to them.

“Shard.” Shatter says. “Come back to finish the crawl?”

“No, actually.” Shard says. “I came back to tell you something.”

“What?” Shatter asks.

“I don’t know what’s up with you.” Shard says. “Not truly. I can’t pretend to understand.”

“So?” Shatter asks.

“Look, I…” Shard pauses. “I am very on the fence as to how I should feel about all this. You’ve got mental health issues, but you’ve been bullying Shadow every day of his life. Frankly, I don’t know how to feel about you. Or if I should feel anything. Or if I should even be helping you. But, even still…”

“What?” Shatter asks.

“I still love you, brother.” Shard says. “But since I’d rather not deal with this… I’m leaving.”

“Well, see you around, sis.” Shatter says. As Shard leaves, he turns to the rest of them and says “Shall we get on with it?”

“Might as well just get it over with.” Forrester says, and they stand and leave, Shatter leading the charge as per usual. They take off into the park once again, wandering beneath the trees. The four agents are still following them, and the five teens that Shatter was fighting with earlier are standing at the far end of the park, staring at them with blank looks.

“Aren’t those the kids you got into a fight with earlier?” Shade asks.

“Oh yeah, we worked something out.” Shatter says. “Hi guys!” he shouts. The teens do not respond, just blankly stare at the group and track them with their eyes.

**5:24 AM**

**6 Hours Before the Incident**

“The sun will be rising in two hours.” Shatter says as they arrive at  _ The King’s Army _ , a cluster of knights painted on the sign.

“Two hours to go?” Sharpen wonders. “This night sure has flown by.”

“Yeah, it sure has.” Shatter says. “Come on, let’s go.”

They go inside and get their drinks, sitting near the front of the quiet and empty bar. “You’ve been cutting the time, haven’t you, Shatter?” Forrester asks.

“You already know the answer.” Shatter says.

“Why has he been cutting time?” Sharpen asks.

“Because he can.” Forrester says.

“Because I can make this night go by quicker.” Shatter says. “Since y’all wanted to get it over with.” he shrugs. “So I skipped a few hours as we went.”

“That seems pretty harmless, Forrester.” Sharpen says. “Just saying. You’ve been acting very paranoid all night.”

“I am paranoid.” Forrester says. “I’m a paranoid person. And you know the thing, Sharpen?” he asks. “It’s good to be paranoid when you’re taking on the whole multiverse. Paranoia is one of the ways you survive.”

“Really?” Sharpen asks in a semi-challenging way. “Like what?”

“One time, I was suspicious.” Forrester says. “Suspicious of a pal. I was worried he wasn’t what everyone else thought he was. So, I kept an eye on him whenever I could and checked on his movements. And you know what?”

“What?” Sharpen asks.

“Turns out he was a spy. A plant.” Forrester says. “So, I killed him before he could enact the plan that was right at his fingertips. It’s good to be paranoid out here.”

“Well, I guess you’re right about that.” Sharpen says. “Hmm.”

“Come on. We’re only two pubs away from the end.” Shatter says, and they finish their drinks, continuing onwards and out into the early morning.

They’re about halfway there to their next destination when Sharpen speaks. “Hey, uh… I don’t really feel like going on.”

“What do you mean?” Shatter asks.

“I don’t know, I just…” Sharpen pauses. “Started thinking about something. I need to sit and think. Like, on that bench.” he points to the nearby bench.

“Alright.” Shatter says. “Have fun thinking.” As Sharpen sits down on the bench and stares up at the sky, the other three of them continue forwards. “Just the three of us now.” Shatter says.

“Yeah. How cheery.” Forrester says.

**6:15 AM**

**5 Hours Before the Incident**

Passing beneath the sign of  _ The Story’s End _ displaying the last page of a book with the words ‘The End’ on it, the three remaining people walk inside the small and empty bar. As soon as they all finish their drinks, Forrester takes Shatter aside.

“You killed those teens, didn’t you?” he asks.

“What are you going to do, kill me?” Shatter asks.

“No.” Forrester says. “Just asking you a question.”

“Well, then you’re gonna have to define kill.” Shatter says.

“Well, I’ll just assume that they’re basically dead.” Forrester decides. “More important question; who are you working for?”

“Why do you ask?” Shatter asks.

“Because I’ve been examining those agents for the last seventeen hours, and they’re rather masked.” Forrester says. “And by masked I mean I can’t tell what they are.”   
“How about that.” Shatter says in a condescending tone, but there is concern in his voice.

“There are only three entities with that level of power and skill in masking whatever these things are.” Forrester says. “Your father, Tyranny, and the Lady of the Void.” Shatter gulps a little as Forrester continues. “If your father were to send agents to check on us, he wouldn’t send these, he’d send Smith and his posse. And Tyranny is dead. Which leaves the Lady of the Void.”

There’s a pause before Shatter slow claps. “Nice.” he says.

“What’s she offering you?” Forrester asks.

“She’s not offering me anything.” Shatter says. “I’m doing all of this entirely of my own volition.”

“What do you mean?” Forrester asks, a growing dread in his stomach.

“She offered me a job, and I jumped right to it.” Shatter says. “Simple as that.”

“She didn’t take you over.” Forrester concludes. “You  _ chose _ this. Why?”

“Because.” Shatter says. “Because I can.” there’s a pause before he adds “I see her in my dreams now. I see her in my head. Two eyes, shining in the darkness.” he smirks. “I see her in my head. Shade will too, once I take him over.”

“Don’t you touch him.” Forrester says in a dark voice.

“Please, you really think you can stand up to me?” Shatter asks. “I’ve got the power of the multiverse at my fingertips.”

“Yeah?” Forrester says. “Well I killed Taylor Knightley. Try me.”

Shatter doesn’t actually have a response to that.

“Get out.” Forrester says. “Get out before my instincts get the better of me and I slaughter you where you stand.”

“Won’t let me get my 20th pint?” Shatter asks.

“ **Get out.** ” Forrester says.

“Alright.” Shatter says, and walks out the door. Forrester goes over to Shade.

“What was that about?” Shade asks.

“Doesn’t matter, I’ll tell you later.” Forrester says. “Best if you don’t know.”

“Okay.” Shade says in slight confusion. “Now what?”

“Well…” Forrester pauses. “Want to finish the crawl? We’ve only got one left.”

“Eh…” Shade says. “Sure.”

As they leave, Forrester spares a glance to see Shatter joining the four agents and five teens, and the group of ten walks away.

**6:34 AM**

**5 Hours Before the Incident**

The last pub in the entire town is  _ The Big Bang _ , the painting on its sign displaying an explosion of light. They get their drinks and sit in the corner. “The plan’s still on, by the way.” Forrester says.

“Alright then.” Shade says. “Today as per the plan.”

“Yep.” Forrester says. “Around noon.”

“What was it he told you?” Shade asks. “Back in 19?”

“Once we get on the council…” Forrester says. “Then I’ll tell you.”

“Alright.” Shade says.

They finish their drinks and head for the hills.

**7:25 AM**

**5 Hours Before the Incident**

“That’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Forrester says as they sit on a hill at the edge of town, staring at the orange glow of the rising sun.

“Yeah.” Shade says. “Funny. All of fate and all these problems, they just fade away when you look at beautiful sights like that.”

“Amazing.” Forrester says. “This whole thing was worth it just for that sight.”

“Hell of a view.” Shade says.

“If this really works…” Forrester says after a pause. “Once we get his attention, we’ll be in. Then once we… deal with him… we’re going to be on the run.”

“Heh. We don’t really have a plan, do we?” Shade asks.

“I guess we’ll get there when we get there.” Forrester says.

“Friends to the end?” Shade asks.

“Friends to the end.” Forrester says.

Forrester hugs his friend to his side as the sun continues to rise into the sky at a slow pace. The future is bright, he thinks. They can do this. They can make things right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Teens. Wrong place, wrong time.  
> Paranoia is important. Remember that.  
> Well, Shade seeing The Lady of the Void way back in Act I makes sense now.  
> "I killed Taylor Knightley" will take on a whole new meaning once we learn who he is.  
> Shatter's with the agents, by the looks of it.  
> Forrester totally should have killed Shatter. Not that it would have worked out that well for him, though.  
> 'The future is bright' sadly, it ain't.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it, this is the end.

“Was wondering when you would show up.” Ter3zi says as Forrester and Shade step into reality in the living room of the mansion where Shade grew up. The sun is setting. She looks just like any other version of Terezi, but she’s got on a green coat with golden edges, as well as red shoes. She’s also got her glasses off, revealing her teal pupiled eyes, and her dragon cane is strapped to her back. She, predictably, has a bright red apple in her hand.

“Mom?” Shade asks.

“Hey Shade.” Ter3zi says. “Your dad’s not around, had to run off for some reason. Something about the Omega-001 Council.”

“Oh, those guys.” Forrester says. “I hate those guys. They’re so cold, and they basically live in a huge war room. It’s like  _ Strangelove _ in there.”

“Yeah, yeah, we get it.” Ter3zi says. “Blah blah blah. Anyway, that’s beyond the point. The point is, we have no idea where Shatter is.”

“That’s reassuring.” Shade says.

“However, we do know where the other four are.” Ter3zi says, smiling. “Problem is, we can’t get inside the timeline they’re in.

“Great, he’s blocked it off.” Shade says. “So what’s our plan anyway?”

“Well, we don’t know his plan, so…” Ter3zi clicks her tongue. “Our best plan of action is capturing one of those four and figuring something out, considering we have no idea what he’s doing, where he’s going, or how he’s doing it. Other than that, we’re waiting for something to happen, for him to show his face.”

“Well then, guess we’re going to have to break into that reality.” Forrester says.

“That sure is gonna be fun.” Ter3zi says. “You should probably have a rest first. You look a little bit… beat up.”

“Just a little.” Forrester says.

“Well, Harley, Roxy, and the Dragon Twins will be following you along with me at some point.” Ter3zi says. “In the meantime, I’ve got a god to consult. Ciao.”

With that, she disappears in a flash of light.

“Ciao.” Forrester says. “Always ciao. Never ‘see you’ or ‘goodbye’.”

“Just how she works.” Shade says, shrugging. “I’m going to go get some rest.”

“Yeah, I think we both deserve it.” Forrester says. “What a wild ride of 8 years.” he mutters as he walks off to the area of the building with the rooms. Shade goes to his room while Forrester seems to pick one of them at random and flops onto one of the beds, seeming to go unconscious the second his head hits the pillow. Shade takes the time to look around his room and all the things in it, since he didn’t really have the time to revisit it last time. It’s been a year since he’s seen it. He takes out his dad’s guitar (which is his now) and plays a short song, before checking on Forrester. What’s his friend been through, he wonders? He looks a little bit uncomfortable as he tosses and turns in his sleep. Shade sets his guitar against the shelf of his room and lies on his back, staring up at the ceiling. Technically speaking, he can sleep at will, but he just needs time to think and process everything that’s happened.

It’s only when the sun has long since vanished below the horizon and stars and darkness have overtaken the sky that he realizes he’s crying.

* * *

**ASPENHOME REPORT, J. S. FORRESTER:**

Shatter had the brilliant idea of leading us along on a pub crawl, so he led the charge with Shard, Sharpen, Shadow, Shackle Shade, and I in tow. There were twenty bars. The Seer, the Golgotha Terror, the Portal, the Twin Psychics, the Snake, the Blue Wind, the Darkest Pit, the Chained Sun, the Wolf, the Scarlet Lovers, the Rogue, the Widow, the Old Kingdom, the Vengeful Axe, the Last Samurai, the Queen’s Maid, the Burning Forest, the King’s Army, the Story’s End, and last but not least, the Big Bang. We were off. We hit the first one and kicked the crawl off, and things escalated from there. There was drinking, there was fun, there was controversy, there were stories, there were shots, there was drama, and of course there was more drinking. Pub eight was a nightclub, and by then we were feeling invincible. Even still, Shackle cashed in for the night, so we carried on without him. We hit the next ones, quick as we could. After the fourteenth pub, Shadow let loose at Shatter, so Shard took him home. Things got mental after pint sixteen, and we spent a few hours running around in the dark before we wound up at the seventeenth. Shard showed up again, then left fairly quickly. Sharpen had to think after eighteen, so we let him bench himself while we continued onwards to nineteen, which was where Shatter decided to call it quits. Shade and I drank the last pints and went up to the hills, watching the sunrise as a new dawn broke.

Forrester considers the lie he just wrote and sends it off to his superior, who he’s about to kill within an indefinite period of time. There’s something about this description that feels important, relevant, but he’s not sure why. He sighs, and stands, heading into the other room where Shade is waiting, hands in his pockets.

“So what’s your plan, exactly?” Shade asks.

“Hopefully I can get close to him and knock some sense into him.” Forrester says.  _ You’re going to have to kill him. _ A voice in his head says.

“So what, we just go and rough up some Universe “Five” timelines.” Shade says.

“Well not rough up, just…” Forrester thinks of the word. “Mess with. Delay events. Change the story, but not in an overtly negative way.”

“Right.” Shade says. “I get your point.”

“You still got those headaches?” Forrester asks.

“Yeah, I’ll be alright.” Shade says. “Not a problem.”  _ That is a very big problem. _ Forrester thinks.  _ Shatter better not be in your head, buddy. _

“Shatter’s been looking at you weirdly too.” Forrester says, thinking  _ it’s a bit more than that _ . “I would keep an eye on him.”

“I’ll be fine.” Shade says. “Let’s just go.”

_ You stay alive, Shade. _ Forrester thinks as he disappears into the aether.

He doesn’t know it yet, but he will spend the next eight years bouncing around the multiverse. By the time he’ll get back to Universe “Four” to relay the information that Shatter is working for another entity, he’ll have forgotten, and the moment will have passed. As for Shatter himself, his goals remain a mystery, but one thing is certain; whatever happens next will not end well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The World Tree is about to catch fire.  
> This is Shatter, by the way. Yes, I’m speaking through the notes.  
> I suppose I could just tell you my whole plan right now. But that would be the mark of a cliche mustache twirling villain. As much as I might act like one every now and then, I am far from one. You don’t get to know what I’m doing. You don’t get to know where I’m going. And you don’t get to know how I’m enacting my plan. That’s for the next story.  
> Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go end a timeline.  
> See you around.


End file.
